


Aerial 6

by masterroadtripper



Series: A Home Away From Home [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Alberta Health Services, Calgary Fire Department, Calgary Police Service, F/M, Inspired by Real Events, M/M, Set in a real location, Tags at the beginning of each chapter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-28
Updated: 2018-05-28
Packaged: 2019-03-31 02:51:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 36,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13965792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/masterroadtripper/pseuds/masterroadtripper
Summary: Kate Delitto is a firefighter on the Calgary Fire Department rig A-6 when she meets a teacher from Devenmark Language School.  Over a year and a half, they find the true meaning of love.





	1. Introduction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Introduction to the story. From the perspective of the main character

There are few days in your life that truly define you.

But, the day I realized that my purpose in life was to run into burning buildings when everyone else was running out was a day the world would remember forever. I was fifteen and it was any usual Tuesday morning. I had gotten dressed for school and came down into the kitchen. My father was sitting at the table riveted to something on the television in the kitchen of the house our family of five lived in. I had never seen the look that was in my fathers eyes before that day, and never afterwards. It was September 11th, 2001. I sat down next to him and for an hour before I left for school, we sat in silence, shocked at what we saw.

It took weeks for the official body count to be finalized, but when it was, 2996 people including 343 firefighters, paramedics and police officers were dead. Over six thousand people were wounded.

I knew that day what my destiny was. I was going to be a firefighter. I was going to save people who had nothing left to count on but my courage and my strength.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I was only four months old when 9/11 happened. I don't remember it, but this is what my father remembers.


	2. Introduction

**February 2013**

The obnoxious beeping of Kate Delitto's alarm clock beside her bed woke her. Instinctively, she hopped out of bed, listening for a dispatch. _Shoes off, turnout gear on, close doors_. When no announcement came, Kate remembered that she was at home. Her heart was pounding from the adrenaline rush associated with a dispatch. Sitting down on the edge of her bed, Kate turned on the lamp on the table beside her bed. It bathed the small room in golden light.

Silencing the alarm, Kate rose once again, though slightly calmer this time and walked to her closet. Half of the closet was filled with her navy blue shift fatigues. The other side was filled with everyday clothing, though they were generally worn less often than the navy blue, long sleeved, collared button down shirts and navy cargo pants which comprised her “Class B” uniform for the City of Calgary Fire Department. At the very back of the small closet was a garment bag, in which hung her formal dress uniform, or “Class A” uniform. The more dusty the bag, the better, because the uniform was worn most commonly for funerals.

She closed her eyes and pressed the palms of her hands against her closed eyelids. She had to move on, but everywhere she looked, it reminded her of John. What was it that he always said? _The job of old firefighters is to teach the young ones how to become old ones._ She was still a probationary firefighter when her mentor, Lieutenant John SeDyeor, was killed in a house fire.

Getting ready for work, Kate dressed quickly and grabbed her black duffel bag, stuffing it with a change of clothes, her laptop, notebook and the files that she had brought home the night previous. Throwing the bag on the passenger seat of her white Crown Victoria, Kate coaxed the engine alive like she had had to do the past three years she had owned the vehicle.

There was about a half a foot of snow on either side of the road as Kate drove her car through the quiet streets of Harvest Hills. As far as she could tell, the roads were not slippery, but if the temperature rose above freezing, it could become slick. It was 7:35 in the morning and Kate waved to one of her neighbours kids as she drove out of the cul-de-sac where she rented a basement apartment.

* * *

It was a big brick building. Built in 2008, Fire station 43, where Kate worked, was very close to Calgary International Airport, and along highway 2. They were dispatched to lots of medical emergencies and car accidents, especially around rush hour. Highway 2, known as Deerfoot trail, or just Deerfoot, to native Calgarians, was a major transit corridor. The fire station was two stories tall. The first floor was where the fire trucks, known as rigs, were housed. Currently, the three rigs at the hall were Aerial 6, known just as A-6, which Kate worked on, Engine 43, or E-43 and Alberta Health Services Ambulance 2378. The kitchen, common room, and the gear room were also located on the first floor. The second floor was where the officers quarters, showers and bunk room lived. There are two large driveways, known as the aprons, on either side of the rig deck. There are garage doors on both sides of the rig deck, which effectively allows the trucks inside to leave from either door. Though there were two fire trucks, A-6 and E-43 and Ambulance 2378, the fire hall could accommodate two more vehicles.

Lieutenant Armack stalked into the kitchen, and the crew collectively looked down, pretending to be very interested in their bacon and eggs. He was late again, presumably due to a hangover or some other unfavorable alcohol related illness that caused him to be late to shift for the fourth time that month. Once he actually showed up, Doug Armack was a cranky dictator that no one liked.

Judging on the amount of noise he was making while gathering his breakfast, Kate was surprised that he did not manage to knock the pan off the stove or wreck any other kitchen equipment. Armack then left the kitchen, though not before grabbing one of the three newspapers on the counter.

Armack had took over on A-6 after Lieutenant John SeDyeor was killed seven years ago. Kate remembered the day like it was yesterday. And Armack was an asshole. It was almost like it was his mission in life to make everyone around him miserable. His misery now reached out past Kate, whom he despised due to her past loyalty to John SeDyeor, and was starting to affect the crew of A-6 and E-43.

"Lieutenant!" Kate said, standing up from her place at the breakfast table and following their lieutenant towards the officers quarters. She took the stairs two at a time and caught up with him. Only lieutenants got space in the officer's quarters. Kate had a room as well, as she was officially a lieutenant. Unfortunately, unless Armack stepped down or was promoted, Kate would not be lead lieutenant on A-6. His greying hair looked like it had not been brushed in a few days and his eyes were bloodshot. Kate could remember Armack before his wife died, he was dedicated and fit, and always ready to get on the job. Now he seemed like all he wanted to do was drink away his off-shift time.

"What is it Delitto?" Armack asked, turning around with the usual dull and lifeless look in his eye. He swiped his hair away from his face, though did nothing to fix his untidy uniform. Having shown up on shift with the appearance of a drunk before, Kate refrained from berating her lieutenant on his appearance, or lack of.

"We're doing school rotation this morning. Are you coming with us?" Kate asked, hoping that the answer would be no. Unfortunately, Armack didn't trust her to "take care of Aerial 6" as he followed her around and never let her be acting lieutenant, always making sure that if he was going to be off shift, to find a different lieutenant to take over. Officially, it was against department rules, but Armack had the commissioner wrapped so tight around his finger that it was probably cutting off circulation. The District Four Battalion directed all movements of crew in the North East and, for whatever reason, thought that Armack was just an amazing specimen of talent.

"I'll stay in the truck, but I'm coming in case of a call," he said before turning and continuing up the stairs. Kate grumbled under her breath, walking back towards the eating area to sit with her friends.

* * *

The first school on the list E-43 and A-6 had split up was a medium sized school in the community of Citadel, St. Bridget Middle School. The engineer and driver of A-6, Kyler Tosh couldn't keep the smile off his face. As one of the only people on shift that had a child, Tosh had requested this school from E-43’s list because his daughter, Lilly went there.

The school gym was very warm and stuffy, with all 700 students packed in. Kate made sure that they wore their turnout pants into the school, just in case they were dispatched to a call. Thibaut grumbled the entire walk up to the gym about them being too warm, but was swiftly quieted by Macken telling him that they dealt with warmer temperatures at calls. The only things that they brought in was what they could easily carry out. A couple fire extinguishers, a halligan, the jaws of life, handcuff rope and some cribbing was laying at their feet on the stage.

The children appeared to love the presentation and when question time came around, Lilly asked about her father's Personal Alert Safety System alarm. A PASS alarm emits a shrill whooping noise, audible over the roar of a fire, if no movement is present after 18 seconds. After a ear splitting demonstration of the alarm, they packed up and headed off to the next school.

It was Devenmark Language School. The principal, a lovely lady, told them that the different grades were in a communal area. Principal Gregor led the crew through the the school, dropping each of them off at a class. Kate was assigned to the grade six classes. There was about sixty students in a room that looked like a small gym. Three teachers emerged from the crowd and introduced themselves to Kate. One of the teachers, the only man, caught her eye. He introduced himself along with the other, older ladies. _Rodney Massey, Tate Simone, Iona Squerciati_.

Once Kate was introduced to everyone, she started her presentation. Keeping her eyes glued to the children, she purposely avoided the eye of a certain teacher at the back of the room. But her eyes strayed away from the children enough to notice his habit of fidgeting with his wire frame glasses.

For most of her career, Kate had tried to climb the ranks as quickly as she could. It payed off, because at twenty six years old, she was a lieutenant, though she didn't yet have her own truck company. At this rate, being acting lieutenant when Armack didn't show up was good enough. Climbing the ranks quickly meant lots of tests and exams, leaving no time for recreational activities, including dating. Kate couldn't remember the last time she went on a date.

After finally finishing the presentation, Kate started packing up, watching out of one eye the classes flooding out of the room. She pretended that she didn't notice as one teacher stood beside her, watching her pack up. Once Kate finished, she stood up and turned to face Rodney Massey. She had to look up a little to look into his coffee coloured eyes. His hair was dirty blond and growing long, though brushed back out of his face. Square glasses outlined his eyes and he looked to be about the same age as she was. He appeared fit, and was about three inches taller than her five foot, eleven inch frame. He was dressed conservatively, but with enough style that Kate could consider it his own invention. The teacher fidgeted and, once again, pulled off his glasses and cleaned them on his knit sweater.

"Mr. Massey, how may I help you?" Kate asked, trying to maintain decorum. She put her hands on her hips, just above where the turnout pants met her tucked in shirt.

"Well, Lieutenant Delitto, may I ask you out to coffee?" If his request for coffee didn't blow her away, the acknowledgment that she was a lieutenant sure did. _Is it a date?_

"I would love to," Kate said, surprised by her own little outburst. It had been a long time since Kate had dated anyone, and the last person was another firefighter.

"This is my phone number. I know you're busy. Phone when you have time," he handed her a sticky note and with that remark, Rodney Massey walked out of the room, turning at the door and winked at her. Kate smiled as she felt a flutter in her stomach. _When was the last time I felt like this?_ It had been too long, Kate decided. Eight years in fact.

It took her a few moments to collect her thoughts, and not long after she did, a call came through her two way radio.

* * *

Once both rigs got back to the station after three consecutive dispatches, Kate flopped down into a cushioned office chair. Reaching behind her head to untie the braid she had put in her hair to keep it out of the way while at the calls, Kate shook out her long dark brown hair. While they were out, Firefighter Kyler Tosh's wife, Ania, had dropped off a tray of lasagna for them for supper. Thankfully, Armack decided to not participate in a group dinner and instead had buggered off to his quarters.

"Your wife is a god-send," one of the two paramedics, Rory McEwan commented through a mouth full of lasagna. His very curly blond hair flopped into his face as he wiped his mouth with a paper napkin. The crew was speaking uncensored due to the absence of the A-6 lead lieutenant.

"Convince you to start dating?" Tosh asked with his trademark sideways grin.

"No, my friend," McEwan said, taking a sip of milk before continuing, "I am a bachelor and will always be one."

"How about you Delitto?" Firefighter Kenny Macken asked Kate, "you passed the lieutenant's exam. Will you start dating?" Kenny really stood out from the other members of the crew. While some had side jobs, and part time jobs, Kenny had had a full time position in the Canadian Army for three years. Kate did not know the entire story, but something happened to him and his twin brother while in Afghanistan.  There was one noticeable scar, thick and deep, running up the inside of his forearm. Generally Kenny never rolled up his sleeves, which would reveal the nasty scar. However in the summer, Kenny occasionally forgot his self-consciousness and pushed the sleeves up.

"Yah," the other paramedic and only other woman, Willis Andra said, "you need to get out there more." Kate just smiled and nodded into her plate.

“Wade,” DeSantis of E-43 said, addressing one of his fellow crew members, “how’s Nico’s fundraising going?” Neal Wade, the lieutenant on E-43, had two children, Nico and Sammy. Nico, now in grade 5, was trying to fundraise for his ballet school so they could compete in Toronto in the spring. The crew from 43 often assisted and pitched in a few bucks where they could.

“We could fill a boot,” Dustin Jeannot, one of the other guys from E-43 offered, looking at the Captain, Alec Brandon, who rode with E-43 and was in charge of the station.

Cap nodded in agreeance and said, “I don’t see why not.”

“What's Sammy up to?” Tartenhouser, the Senior Firefighter on E-43 asked. Marc Tartenhouser had no children, so he and his wife Trudy showered affection onto his co-workers children.

“She's been enjoying gymnastics. But she's is growing so fast that I think she'll have to quit next year,” Wade replied before shoving a bite of lasagna into his mouth.

“How about Lilly?” Tartenhouser asked, turning the conversation to Tosh.

“We've gotten down to three letters home from her teacher a week,” Tosh answered. The crew all knew that Lilly was poorly behaved. Between Tosh working odd hours at the fire department and his wife, Ania, being a federal defence lawyer, Lilly’s parents were absent for a significant portion of her childhood. They never spoke with Tosh about it because they knew Lilly was an accident and born at the wrong time in her parents lives. But that Tosh also felt guilty for leaving Lilly with her grandfather for a large portion of her life.

“That's better than five a week, yes?” Anderson, the newest member of E-43 stated in a question. Jamie Anderson was a quiet guy and often could go an entire meal without speaking to anyone.

“I guess,” Tosh muttered, taking a drink of his cup of coffee.

* * *

Once they finished, Kate helped Tosh clean up the kitchen. The rest of the crew had sat down in the common room to watch some television. The kitchen was connected to the common room, and the sounds from the TV filtered in. Good friends since high school, Kyler and Kate had gone to the Fire Academy together. They were separated a little when they were placed at two different Fire halls for their probationary period, Kate at 43 and Kyler at 28. After finishing their probationary period, Kyler married to Ania, also a friend of theirs from high school. They stayed at different halls until the house fire that took the life of John SeDyeor also put the House 43 engineer into permanent retirement. Kyler put in for a transfer to 43 and finally, a year and a half after starting work with the Calgary Fire Department, best friends from high school were working together at the same hall.

After the kitchen was clean, Kate headed to the bunk room and pulled out her phone. She dialed the number the blond haired teacher had given her on a sticky note. The ring tone sounded three times before he answered.

"Hello, Rodney Massey speaking," he said, and sounded unsure of who was phoning probably because he did not recognize the phone number.

"Hi, Rodney, it's Kate. We met this afternoon," she said and was sure she could hear him smiling.

“How could I forget you?” Kate made a noise that sounded like a giggle to her ears before Rodney asked, "When are you available?"

"Well, I am on shift for twelve hours every twenty four hours, if that makes sense," she said and turned over her shoulder to see Macken rummaging through his stacking drawers.

"Clear as mud, lieutenant," he responded.

"Would a weekend or weekday work for you?" Kate asked.

"Yah, this weekend is all free, if either day works? I'm also off on Friday, if that's better?" Rodney said and she could hear him shuffling through something on the line. If she was on shift today, that means that 24 hours later, she would be working at night, meaning anytime on the weekend, Kate could be on call.

"I'm going to have to take you up on the Sunday. Hopefully nothing will come up at work. A bunch of guys are out of town, so I'll probably be put on the call in list," Kate said and tried to hide the hesitation in her voice. If they needed her, Kate would have to go to work, and she didn't want to randomly run away from a date.

"Is 11:30 am at the Vendome Café good?" Rodney asked.

"Perfect. I'll see you at 11:30 on Saturday the tenth at the Vendome Café," Kate repeated, making she had all the details right.

"See you then."

"Bye."

"Bye," Rodney said, hanging up the phone. Kate wrote the date, time and place on the calendar above her desk and turned off her phone.


	3. Blizzard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Calgary gets a blizzard. The crew gets called out.

**February 2013**

Kate stood to stretch her legs. The window beside her desk, which she could not see out of, showed her that the weather outside was quickly progressing to a blizzard. Soon, Kate figured, they would get called out. It would likely be a traffic accident. While Calgary got immense amounts of snow during the winter, the road clearing services were not that great.

She grabbed her wool hat and marched out of her office. They would need to keep the apron clear of snow and if Armack or Cap did not order anyone to do it, she would order them herself. Tosh was asleep on his bunk, so Kate decided to leave him to rest. Roux was pacing at the end of the locker room, so she summoned him and they grabbed their gear. Turnout pants with the boots attached not only provided an easy way to pull them on, but also kept snow out. The burlap jacket was thick, but not warm, so they bundled up in two layers of wool each.

Roux grabbed two shovels and Kate went to the storage room and hauled out the bags of sidewalk salt. “Delitto,” Roux called over the blowing of the snow that pelted their faces. Thibaut walked over to her, lifting his knees high for his feet to clear the slowing accumulating snow banks.

“Why don't we clear the lanes into one?” It was an idea that John SeDyeor had employed in the past and basically consisted of shoveling in front of all the rig deck doors then shoveling a funnel into one lane all the way out onto the road. Spreading some road salt down the apron allowed it to start melting the thick snow by the time they were done. All they had to do now was shovel the slush off to the side. They were about halfway down the concrete slab when the call tone sounded over the PA system. _E-43, A-6, AHS-2378. Traffic accident. Deerfoot Trail and the on ramp to Stoney Trail South._

Kate groaned along with the rest of the crew. They ran to the trucks, fourteen people demonstrating the definition of organized chaos. Within seconds, they pulled out into the blizzard. Kate turned around in her backwards facing seat. The visibility was close to zero and Tosh's knuckles were white as he struggled to control the 100,000 pound truck.

* * *

Stoney Trail was the proverbial ring-road of Calgary. It was probably the second busiest road and was used by almost all long haul trucks trying to pass through Calgary. The on, off ramp between the two intersecting roads was a maze that could only truly be described as a knot made in cord by a young child. To exit either road onto the other was relatively long merge lane, but combined with speed, ice, wind and snow, the cloverleaf became a hazard area.

When Station 43 was being built, the CFD had wanted to make the station into a four-bay hall, able to accommodate six rigs, including a Truck, Engine, Rescue Squad and Aerial rigs and two ambulances. Unfortunately when it was built, the City of Calgary experienced major cutbacks and 43 still ended up with four bays, but only one Engine and a Aerial rig, and an Alberta Health Services ambulance. It was cases like this when Kate wished they had gotten more rigs.

* * *

A semi-truck had steamrolled over a mid-sized SUV in the merge lane from Stoney trail onto Deerfoot going north. The sun had set, so the first thing Armack ordered was that the aerial was to be set up, providing them with a spotlight to work under. Turnout gear, layers of canvas and burlap, Nomex and more than one wool layer provided warmth and protection, but in the biting -38 degrees Celsius wind, it was like wearing a tee-shirt. Kate caught Tosh's eye as he raised the aerial and saw that he was about five seconds away from putting on his Self Contained Breathing Apparatus, just to keep the wind out of his face.

Extrication began once A-6 was set up and providing them light. For the SUV, it was a recovery effort. There was no way anyone could have survived the impact that the SUV suffered. Either vehicle had one driver and no passengers. The passenger of the SUV probably died on impact, the trauma to his head and upper body was so severe that even if he had not have bled out before they arrived, he would have been either brain dead or died at the hospital.

Getting the body out of the car was quite a production, however. The semi-truck had managed to lose its trailer about a half kilometre back down the road when it hit the SUV. When the two vehicles collided, the semi-truck cab managed to drive onto the SUV, squishing the trunk and continued pushing, or more likely, sliding, another half kilometre down the road before the semi-truck driver finally got traction on some pavement and was able to stop.

McEwan and Andra had loaded the semi-truck driver into their ambulance and pulled away. According to protocol, they had to wait until another ambulance arrived until they began to overhaul. Because of the blizzard, most man-power was busy, causing an All Companies Working call to be issued when they requested a second ambulance. The closest rig was driving in from the South Health Campus, over an hour away in good weather.

Once the victim was out of the wreck, they placed the body on the backboard McEwan and Andra left for them. Tosh, the undisputed most religious member of the crew said a prayer, then covered the body in a blanket. Leaving it out of the way, the crew worked together to move the wreck out of the way of passing cars.

* * *

The crew made it back to the station at around 9 that night; an hour after their shift officially ended. Kate packed up as quick as possible. She felt drained, limp, boneless. That call had opened up her heart. They had to leave that man on the side of the road while they attended other parts of the accident. He was dead, lying on a yellow stretcher, covered in a heat blanket with a head that closer resembled a popped balloon then the typical oval, structurally sound skull, waiting for the Ambulance to show up. He was dead and lived his first few hours in the afterlife with his body remaining on the shoulder of the highway in minus 38 weather while a crew of firefighters worked feverishly to move his vehicle and the one that killed him out of the way of traffic.

As soon as Kate sat down in her car, parked beside the fire hall, she put her head in her hands. It scared her that she could truly not do anything to help this person. He needed her and her crew and the best they could do was load him onto an ambulance. She was a first responder, and a victim died. This happened everyday. _Why am I so upset?_ She pulled herself back together and drove home.

Once there, she showered and pulled out her phone. The numbers she keyed in, Kate didn't even need to think of, they just came naturally and then suddenly she was talking to her best friend from school.

“It's 1:30am here Kate, this better be important,” Anna said jokingly, though she sounded completely awake. After they graduated high school, Anna left Calgary to go to McGill University to study pathology.

“I just wanted to talk, I guess,” Kate answered, though now, she didn't know what she was doing with her phone in the first place.

“Do you want to talk about work, or anything but work?” Anna asked. They had known each other since grade five. Kate had been at an art exhibition for her little brother, Adam, when she saw a girl from school. She didn't know her name, but she had told her parents. They then promptly dragged her over to Anna's family and introduced the girls. After that, Anna and Kate were inseparable. Sixteen years later, they still share the same bond, though they are living several provinces away from each other.

“Anything but work, please,” Kate replied and she could hear Anna shuffling papers in the background.

“Well, right now I am writing a paper on the effects of alcohol on human cadavers,” Anna said and Kate tried to hold back a chuckle. She had no idea why her best friend was so intrigued by the dead, but Anna could never understand why Kate liked firefighting, so she never judged. They ended up talking until midnight, the call ending with Kate promising to come to Anna's convocation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The winter of 2013 was one of the most wet winters Calgary saw in ages aside from this winter (2018).


	4. Vendome Cafe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is way too long but I refuse to split it into multiple parts.
> 
> Part 1 - Date  
> Part 2 - Accident Call  
> Part 3 - Family Dinner
> 
> Warning for homophobic comments and minor character injuries

**February 2013**

Kate parked across the street from the Vendome Cafe. She was a few minutes early, so she turned off the engine and sat to observe her surroundings. The cafe was in a nice part of town. Kensington was like Calgary’s equivalent of “the Mission” in San Francisco or Uptown in Chicago. There were locally based restaurants and art galleries. It was where her mother would come for art classes and to buy wool to knit or fancy glass beads to turn into any type of jewelry. It was old and looked like a very expensive neighbourhood to live in.

Then, she saw Rodney walking towards the cafe. She opened her car door, then locked it up. She waited for traffic to clear, then walked across the street, her hands rammed deep into the pockets of her coat. It was the only jacket she liked. On the back, in bold yellow letters read “lieutenant.” On her left shoulder was the Calgary Fire Department insignia and “Delitto” was spelt across the other shoulder. On the left, over her heart, was the CFD maltese cross. Kate decided against tying up her hair into its usual ponytail this morning, so instead it fell down her back. She wore nice blue jeans and a button-up, plaid shirt. Across the street, she met up with Rodney.

“Hey,” she said. He turned to face her and answered, “morning Kate.” His smile could have melted all fourteen inches of snow still covering the ground. Inside, they sat down at a table for two and ordered coffee.

“How are you doing?” Rodney asked.

“Last shift was a lot better than Wednesday’s,” Kate said.

“What makes a good shift?” Rodney said, leaning across the table. Their coffee came and Kate took a sip. She liked her coffee black, but watched as Rodney poured so much milk into his that it became the color of his hair.

“Well, a good shift is when you’re busy, but not so much that you can’t go to the washroom without getting called out. A bad shift however, can simply be defined by one call. Like the one we got on Wednesday on Deerfoot,” Kate felt better about it now.

“I saw that one covered on the news. That was your crew?” Kate nodded and Rodney continued, “Geez, it looked intense.”

“Yah, it was just A-6 and E-43 covering it because we got a “All Crews Working Call,” plus it was minus 38,” Kate felt cold just thinking about it.

“So, tell me about your crew,” Rodney said.

“Well, officially, they’re not my crew. I am a Lieutenant because I took the exam, but I don’t actually run a rig of my own,” Kate said, trying to keep the regret out of her voice. What she wouldn’t give to actually leave her coat at the shotgun seat of A-6.

“Then tell me about your co-workers,” Rodney smiled again, displaying two rows of neatly adjusted teeth.

“The official Lieutenant of Aerial 6, the rig I’m on, is Armack. We refer to each other by our last names. The engineer, who drives the rig, his name is Tosh. We went through the academy together. There is also Roux, who used to work in Paris, and Macken, who has a twin brother and was in the Army. Currently, we have no probie, or firefighter in training. The other rig at our hall, E-43 has the driver, Jeannot, Captain Brandon, LT Wade, DeSantis, Anderson and Tartenhouser”

“Tartenhouser?” Rodney asked, frowning at the slightly goofy last name, “is he German?”

“Marc Tartenhouser, his mother is Irish and his father is German,” Kate replied.

“You like your co-workers,” Rodney said, his head cocked to the side slightly.

“Yeah, they’re my family. I’ve known some of them since I was eighteen,” Kate said. Even though her real family, however psychotic they were, were still her family, the crew at 43 were so much more normal.

“Did you graduate into Firefighter School?” Rodney asked, and Kate took a minute to decipher what he meant.

“The Academy? Yes I did. Graduated high school in 2005. That summer I started taking courses,” Kate said. She hadn’t wasted anytime. “Your turn. Do you like your co-workers?”

“Sure. As well as we can. I am relatively new to teaching, so lots of the older ones don’t share my opinions on technology. And you met the Grade Six team. Tate Simone and Iona Squerciati. In my opinion, Tate needs to retire. She’s completely deaf in one ear,” Rodney paused, taking a sip of his coffee before asking, “I noticed those gold colored bands on your shoulder before, what are they?”

“It's my rank,” Kate said, before taking a drink of the steaming coffee.

“Pardon?” Rodney asked, confused and Kate realized that Rodney was thinking out loud and now looked flustered.

“You asked what the bands on my shoulders were. One gold epaulette on either side is for lieutenants,” Kate smiled, and she tried to not appear amused at his confusion.

“I'm sorry, that was abrupt. I tend to have a weak brain mouth filter and think out loud,” Rodney said before leaning back in his chair. The waitress took their orders and when the food came, Kate watched Rodney watch her eat it.

When she took a drink, Rodney asked, “Why do you eat like there is no tomorrow?”

“Habitual,” Kate muttered before shrugging, “at the station, sitting down to eat is a bad omen and we're going to get a call.” That and sitting down to go to the washroom. However time killing activities like washing dishes and cleaning the bunk room seemed to assure that they would not get a dispatch. “So,” Kate said after swallowing a large bite of her pancakes, “Family. Do they live round here?”

“Not in Alberta, thank goodness. My entire family owns land in Southern Saskatchewan. I’m an only child though,” he added, “How about you?”

“Born and raised in Calgary. I have an older brother and a younger brother and two nephews and a niece,” Kate smiled. They were on decent terms, though Kate wondered about Rodney’s relationship with his parents. The way he said it sounded like they were as estranged.

“Where does a last name like Delitto come from?” Rodney asked. Kate had been asked that lots over the years.

“Italy. My dad’s side of the family is all Italian, though my mother is from Scottish,” Kate answered before taking the last bite of her breakfast. “Since you work at a language school, does that mean you can speak languages other than English?”

“English, French and German fluently and I could get by in Italian, Spanish, Romanian and Russian,” Rodney answered.

“So I guess,” Kate paused, recalling her childhood memories of her father teaching and speaking to her and her siblings in Italian said, “Se incontri mai mio nonno potresti parlare con lui.” _If you meet my grandfather you could speak with him in Italian_ , Kate told him.

“You speak Italian?” Rodney asked in awe.

“I was the only English Second Language student in my grade at school. But my parents taught me and my siblings English and Italian in equal measure,” Kate responded.

“Ho visitato l'Italia per un mese dopo la laurea,” Rodney said in surprisingly competent Italian, “Mi ha insegnato Italiano.” _I visited Italy for a month after I graduated high school. Taught myself Italian,_ Rodney said.

Kate was seriously curious about his ability to speak Italian with a convincing accent and such confidence and competence, so she told him so, “Parli con un bel accento.”

“Grazie, danke, merci, spasibo, multumesc, gracias,” Rodney said with a huge smile.

“Show off,” Kate laughed before taking another sip of coffee.

Once they both paid their bills, Rodney offered, “Do you want to do this again? Meeting up for coffee, I mean?”

“Of course, I would love to,” Kate said, smiling at Rodney. She had really enjoyed the late breakfast or early lunch and enjoyed Rodney's company. He looked like he was about to say something, but the chiming of her phone stopped closed his mouth. Kate groaned and pulled it out of her pocket. The screen said Alec Brandon.

“It’s my Captain,” Kate said, “I'm sorry, I have to answer it.”

“Go ahead,” Rodney replied and he didn't even look upset.

Kate stepped away and answered her phone, “Yes Cap?”

“Can you meet us at the Walmart Warehouse off Deerfoot? It's a roof structural fire. We just got an All Crews Working response and 6 and 43 are the only companies on scene. Armack is not answering his phone and Tosh is in Mexico. You gotta come down here if you can. Urly from Platoon A is sick and Greet from Platoon C is in Toronto. You’re next in command,” he said and Kate noticed that his voice sounded worried.

“I’ve got to go,” Kate said dashing across the street to her car. Putting the phone back to her ear she told her chief, “I’m in Kensington, it’ll take awhile to get down.”

“We grabbed your gear when we headed out, it's all on scene,” Cap said and she could hear sirens in the background. As she pulled away from the cafe, she waved at Rodney.

On her way to the Walmart Warehouse, Kate tried to drive responsibly. Getting in a car accident or being pulled over would not be any help to her coworkers.

* * *

But Cap was absolutely right. The fire was insane. Thankfully, there were enough crews working overtime to have a substantial amount of manpower and there was a fire hydrant right across the street. Between the platoon A crew, and the others from platoon B and C that Cap managed to get on scene, they had a crew of twelve.

“Delitto, MacIntyre, with me,” Cap said, “We’re missing three according to the head count. The manager says they should be in the receiving area of the warehouse.”

“Let’s go in through the loading doors,” MacIntyre suggested, “We’ll be in quicker that way.” Kate didn’t know MacIntyre very well, they never worked the same shift. From what she had gathered over the past few years was that MacIntyre was a grocer by trade. His whole family was in the grocery business, but he hated it and decided to join the CFD. So when a fire broke out in a warehouse or a grocery store, you wanted MacIntyre on scene.

Kneeling down onto the ground, Kate, Cap and MacIntyre pulled off their helmets and connected the bottom part of their SCBA around the base of their necks. Next came the Nomex hood that covered their necks, ears and chins. Over top of that was placed the glass visor of the SCBA and secured around the back of their heads. The helmet was put back on top and they were ready to go.

The heat of the fire pooled down the back of their necks and licked at their burlap coats. It was hot and Kate was sweating just by walking. Flames licked across the roof and sparks rained down on their heads. A rather large ash landed on Kate’s glove and she brushed it off, leaving a patch of burnt canvas. It would have to be filed as damaged next shift.

“How much further to the receiving bays?” Cap called out over the roar of the fire.

“Should be the next door on the right,” MacIntyre shouted back before stopping at the door and giving it a donkey kick. The room they walked into had no dividing floors but no fire had spread to this area yet. It was smokey and prevented them from seeing much farther than feet in front of them.

“CALGARY FIRE DEPARTMENT, CALL OUT,” they shouted at different intervals as they swept the area, keeping low to the ground. Every few steps, Kate came across a knocked over shelf and had to shift them out of the way, checking for the lost workers. On one call out, Kate heard a weak response. A feeble “over here,” called out from near a pile of garden equipment and toppled shelves.

“Guys!” Kate screamed running over to where she could now see the collapsed worker, “OVER HERE!” Cap and MacIntyre rushed over and pried one ladies leg free from the metal frame trapping it in place. Hoisting her over her shoulder, Kate carried the lady, fireman style, to the exit. Cap and MacIntyre emerged from the warehouse minutes later with the two other workers. Loading them into the awaiting ambulances, Kate watched as A-6 started up the water canons and started dousing the flames. It took awhile, but once the fire was out, they headed back to the station. Kate grabbed paperwork, and though it wasn't her shift, she was a lieutenant and had to document the decisions she made incase of a discrepancy.

* * *

At her basement apartment, she recognized her younger brother's car parked across the street and bet he used the spare key in the fire extinguisher box beside the door to let himself in.

After parking in her partially sheltered spot, Kate let herself into her apartment and inhaled the amazing aroma of spaghetti sauce cooking.

“Non capisco la tua necessità di cucinare per me,” _I don’t understand your need to cook for m_ e, Kate teased her little brother in Italian as she walked into her kitchen.

“Oh?” Adam asked, turning to face her, “Beh, ti lascerò solo per soffrire la furia della mamma stasera a cena.” _Well, then I'll just leave you to suffer the wrath of mom tonight at supper._

“She would understand. I had to work an overtime call,” Kate reasoned with Adam in Italian, though at the same time being grateful that her little brother was helping.

“Put your stuff away, shower if you must, then come help me so you can claim some credit for this portion of the meal,” Adam told her in their native language, throwing an apron in her general direction. Kate chuckled and caught the flying fabric.

She put her duffel bag under her desk and the forms on top, then slipped the loop of fabric over head and joined her twenty four year old brother in her kitchen.

* * *

Kate and Adam took separate cars to their parents house in Varsity Acres. It was an older bungalow that their family had lived in since Kate was a baby. It was their Sunday get-together. Her older brother's minivan was parked on the driveway beside their fathers Saturn Ion. Adam and Kate parked across the street.

The house was already loud when they entered. Their older brother, Oliver, had brought all three of his children and his wife. Among themselves, the Delitto children spoke English. But their grandfather never learned English. So since Grandpa Giorgio was parked in his wheelchair in front of the fireplace telling a story to Oliver's children Hayley, Nolan and Reese, Kate knew they were obviously not listening because they never learned Italian.

Upon seeing Kate, their oldest child, Hayley, hopped up and hugged her. “Mommy and Gram are in the kitchen,” ten year old Hayley said. Kate smiled in thanks. Adam had joined Oliver and their father on the couch so Kate made her way to the kitchen to find the ladies of the house.

Her mother was standing by the stove talking to Sarah, Oliver's wife, about education standards. Sarah had a glass of wine in her hand and was nodding in agreement with whatever the last comment her mother made was. Coming up from behind her mother, Kate gave her a large hug.

“I didn't know you were working today,” her mother said in Italian before reverting back to English for the sake of Sarah and her kids. Kate wondered how she had guessed.

“I was called in on overtime,” she replied in English and remembered that she hadn’t yet showered since the warehouse fire and she probably smelt like smoke.

“How is Kyler?” Sarah, Oliver's wife asked. Ever since Kate had introduced him to her family over ten years ago, back when they were in high school, everyone decided that the Tosh family should come to their weekly suppers.

“He's in Mexico with his family,” Kate replied and left it at that, “how's work been treating you?”

“Good, we've been getting some good commissions lately,” Sarah answered. Sarah and Oliver were high-school sweethearts. The year after they graduated, Sarah got pregnant with Hayley. Oliver promptly married Sarah and the Harris-Delitto family began. Four years later, Sarah had twin boys, Reese and Nolan. Now, they worked with Ford, selling cars at dealerships.

* * *

They sat at the dinner table after their mother insisted she didn't need anyone's help. Hayley insisted that she should sit as far away from her brothers as possible, which left her sitting beside Grandpa Giorgio who was still telling stories about the Vietnam War. Since he was wheelchair bound Grandpa Giorgio sat at one head of the rectangular table. Hayley sat on one side and directly across from her was Adam. Kate sat next to Adam and Nolan was next to Kate. His mother sat beside him. The other head of the table was reserved for their mother, Hayley, Nolan and Reese’s grandmother. Beside Reese was an open spot for Kate’s father, who was ferrying plates and pots to and from the kitchen. On the other side of Reese was his father Oliver and on Oliver’s other side was Hayley.

“I didn’t think you were working this morning,” Oliver said across the table. “I wasn’t, I was called in on over time to the Walmart Warehouse,” Kate responded as she passed the dish of mashed potatoes to Nolan.

“The warehouse by the airport?” her father asked while drowning his baked ham in gravy.

“Yah, burned to the ground,” Kate replied and held the plate of meat out to Nolan. It was too heavy for him to hold with one hand and scoop meat with the other, so Kate held it and he scooped the pinkish brown meat onto his plate.

“Mom,” Adam said, turning in his seat to face the head of the table. Their mother had finally sat down, satisfied that the table was as prepared as it could be. “Could I bring Bretton over for supper next week?”

“You may not young man,” their father interrupted before their mother could get a word in edgewise. From across the table Oliver glared at Adam, his gaze almost reading _you couldn’t have waited until after supper to bring this up?_

Adam came out to their family when he was in Grade 10 after being beat up at school. He was caught making out with his boyfriend behind the school and was awarded with eight stitches from his hairline to his eyebrow. His boyfriend, Bretton, was in Grade 11 at the time and ended up with three broken ribs and a fractured clavicle.

Their parents dealt with the topic by not dealing with it and a silent truce was made. Almost like a Delitto family, “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Bretton had been an honorary member of the Delitto siblings since they had been introduced to them as a friend when Adam was in Grade 9. After Adam came out, he was included in anything that the Delitto siblings did and in boyfriend capacity. They didn’t care, Adam was their little brother and if he was happy, they were happy. Bretton had never been over to the Delitto residence for supper before and Kate never thought Adam would ask.

“Why not?” Adam countered.

“Whatever your mother and I did wrong will not be affecting our grandchildren,” their father responded. Oliver looked at Sarah with a questioning gaze as if to say _what the hell is he rambling about?_

“My friend Kelsey has two dads,” Hayley added cheerfully before Kate put her hand over hers in a silent statement saying _be quiet._

“He’s not coming,” Luca Delitto snapped, “Conversation closed.” Dinner was plunged into silence, the only noises being the scrapes of forks and knives against plates and the slurping of Reese and Nolan drinking their milk.

Kate nudged her knee into Adam’s under the table. A comforting move since he was young, Kate would touch their knees together and in an act to say, _you’re fine, I’m here_.

But she envied Hayley, Reese and Nolan, growing up in a time where they could be whoever they wanted. Before Adam met Bretton, he was a quiet and introverted kid. And not because that was him, it was more because he was trying to hide who he really was. Then on the first day of grade nine for Adam and grade eleven for Kate, Adam came home like a bubbly ball of happiness for the first time in a long time. Kate didn't know it at the time, but it was because he had just sat next to his future boyfriend.


	5. On call, off call

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kate and Rodney go on a second date.
> 
> Warning for the use of CPR on a real person.

**February 2013**

After shift next morning, Kate opened up her locker and noticed that her phone had buzzed off its shelf. Thankful it hadn’t broken or shattered, she noticed that she had five voicemails on her phone plus a bunch of text messages. Most of the text messages were from Sarah, her older brothers wife, however Kate assumed that her nephews Reese and Nolan had got a hold of the phone considering that many of them were just random letters and numbers. The voice mails she sorted through on order of importance and noticed that the last one was from Rodney. She smiled and let it play.

“Good evening Kate, it's Rodney. I was wondering if you would like to join me for a run on the Bow River Pathways sometime. If you are off on the weekend, we could arrange something for then. Call me back. Thanks.” The message ended and she smiled.

“What's got you so happy Kate?” She turned around and saw Thibaut, Kenny, Rory, Kyler and Willis. The whole crew of A-6 and AHS-2378 was there except for Armack, whom had probably buggered off as soon as the clock struck 8:00 am. E-43 was still out on a call that they caught just minutes before shift ended.

“Got a hot date for tonight?” Kenny teased before nodding a good morning greeting to one of the guys from Platoon C. Kate balled up her shift shirt and chucked it at his head.

“You wish,” she teased. Kyler picked up the shirt and handed it to her.

“No you wish. Do we need to set you up on an online dating site?”

“No thank you!” Kate exclaimed in mock horror. The last time the guys set up a dating profile for anyone it was Rory and the first date that he got was with a professional stripper.

“So who phoned?” Willis asked.

“A friend,” Kate responded, hoping that her answer would pacify them for the time being. They dispersed along the row of lockers and started changing.

“Does this friend happen to be a teacher with brown hair,” Kyler asked once most of the crew was out of earshot.

“How do you --” Kate stuttered pulling a plaid shirt over her head.

“I saw him give you a sticky note at the school presentation,” Kyler smiled and started tying his shoes. “I knew it.”

Kate shook her head and pulled on her jacket, “You are delusional.”

* * *

Kate followed Willis out of the change room and they walked to their parking spots at the side of the fire hall, Willis to her ancient Honda Civic and Kate to her slightly less ancient Crown Victoria.

At home, Kate phoned Rodney and agreed to meet later that day. Just after lunch, Kate pulled on her jogging clothes, which consisted of black sweat pants, a CFD hoodie, and her favorite running shoes, which were so tattered they should have been thrown out months ago. She got into her car and drove down to Edworthy Park where they agreed to meet. Kate could see Rodney’s green Jeep in the parking lot and climbed out and walked to meet Rodney. He was wearing a dark green Devenmark Language School hoodie and looked ready to run.

“Go easy on me,” he requested jokingly. Kate smiled as they set out, fresh snow crunching under their feet. It was a beautiful winter day, the temperature finally rising above minus 20.

They spoke little as they ran. Downtown approached fast and they crossed the new bridge, known as the Peace Bridge.

Kate had no idea what about it was considered peace, but it was nice to look at. It was sculpted red steel that had lanes for both bikes and pedestrians.

Downtown Calgary had a beautiful skyline. The Bow Tower, the newest and tallest addition to the skyline was shaped like a horseshoe, which was fitting, considering Calgary was home to the Calgary Stampede.

The sky was a bright blue, which was a nice contrast to the white snow covering the ground. Kate looked over at Rodney. His cheeks were red and puffs of steam came from his mouth. The fog was condensing on his glasses and causing the bottom halves to be covered in a layer of ice and she almost laughed at his appearance.

They slowed to a walk and Kate noticed that Rodney was slightly winded, but not bad. She had tried to not pass any premature judgement of his athletic abilities, but Kate did not expect Rodney to be able to keep up with her. They walked a little farther down the path and stopped at a cross street. Rodney was about to cross with the light when Kate grabbed the sleeve of his sweater.

“Wait,” she instructed him. Out of habit Kate listened for emergency vehicles before crossing a road. While a person may be able to cross before the vehicle arrived, other cars may have to move out of the way as well.

“Listen. Do you hear the siren?”

“Yah, I do,” Rodney said after listening closely. She smiled and explained why she had told him to wait. Seconds later Rescue 1 and Truck 1 barrelled around the corner. Kate was good friends with most of the guys at that station and when they saw her on the corner, the driver gave a little toot of the horn.

“That was pretty incredible,” Rodney whispered and Kate was not sure she heard him right, “They knew you.”

“Most people at the department know everyone else by name, or at least by their face,” Kate explained as they crossed the street. They picked up coffee at a little store and headed back the pathway. Walking along the river, Kate learned more about Rodney.

He had grown up on a farm with two alcoholic parents. He always wanted to be a farmer and inherit the farm when his parents died, but in an attempt to prove that he was different than his parents had drove to Calgary with his limited possessions and worked two part time jobs while taking his teaching degree.

Her heart went out to Rodney. She had applied to the Lakeland Emergency Services Training College when she was eighteen, and without her parents knowledge. As far as they were aware, she was taking a gap year. Then, as soon as she graduated high school and June rolled around, she and Kyler drove up to Vermillion and left their families behind. There was some things Kate wished she could go back in time and fix. That was one of them.

* * *

“Someone help!” The call for help shook Kate out of her thoughts. She looked up and around. A lady in a pink tracksuit was waving her hands frantically and Kate mentally scolded herself for getting so wrapped up in the conversation she and Rodney were having that she did not notice the person laying on the ground.

Kate threw her partially empty coffee cup in the approaching garbage can and heard Rodney do the same. They sprinted over to the lady and Kate introduced herself.

“Hi, I’m Kate Delitto and I’m a firefighter, can I help?” The lady in pink nodded.

“We were walking along and Harriet just doubled over and then she fell over and hasn’t moved.”

“Rodney,” Kate shouted without taking her eyes off the victim, “Phone 911, put it on speaker and give it to me.”

Taking her thin winter gloves out of her pocket, she knelt down on the ground, pinched the woman’s shoulders and asked, “Harriet, can you hear me?”

 _Unconscious, no visible bleeding, contusions or malformations_.

She rolled the victim over onto her back and put her head near the victim's mouth.

_No breathing sounds or chest movements. Start compressions._

“Hey,” Kate said to the friend in pink, “can you help me?”

_Landmark, armpits, across to the breastbone._

“When I tell you I need you to lift her chin up, pinch her nose and give her two breaths.”

_One, two, the ribs cracked, we’re getting traction, three, four, five, six, seven._

“Kate, 911 is on the line,” Rodney announced, “I gave them the location.” He put the phone near her ear.

_Twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen._

“LT Kate Delitto, badge number 5211, started compressions on scene. Unconscious, no visible bleeding, contusions or other maladies. Victim collapsed before I arrived.”

“10-4, ambulance ETA, 2 minutes,” the dispatcher said.

_Twenty eight, twenty nine, thirty. Continue compressions, two breaths._

“Alright, lift her chin up, give her two full breaths of air."

 _Five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, no sub-conscious movement or pre-fatal convulsions, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen_.

Then she started vomiting.

 _Cradle the neck, roll her over. Wait until the vomiting subsides_.

Dammit, Kate thought while she waited for the puke to stop shooting out of the ladies mouth, the other lady must’ve not tilted the head back far enough and was pumping air into her stomach. Harriet stopped vomiting and Kate rolled her back onto her back.

_Check the mouth, nothing in the mouth. Check for breathing, no breathing. Continue compressions. One, two, three, four. Sirens approaching._

An ambulance pulled up alongside the curb and a paramedic ran over and took over compressions from Kate. She stood up as the other medic approached and left them to their more in depth care. She peeled off her gloves, throwing them away in a nearby garbage can and made her way through the crowd that had now formed around the victim towards the street.

“Hey,” she heard Rodney say and felt an arm snake over her shoulder and pull her in for a hug, “You did great.” Rodney slowly turned her away from the scene.

Minutes passed before the two medics then ran past them with Harriet on a stretcher.

“We got a pulse,” one reported, “You saved her life.”

* * *

Kate pulled her hair back from forehead and sat down at the dispatch desk. She spun around in the office chair in which she sat in.

All that she could think of was the lady on the jogging trail yesterday. Wanting to phone the hospital, but not knowing which of the three in Calgary to call, and also not sure what to say, Kate just stared at the phone. And stared at the phone, and spun in the chair and kept staring at the phone. It was black, shinny, and old. The phone was still connected to its base by a coiled wire that was currently tangled in a stack of papers.

“Foothills Hospital ER, how may I help you?” Kate then immediately regretted her decision to pick up that damn phone.

“Hi, yes, this is Lieutenant Kate Delitto CFD. I was wondering if I could get a check up on a lady brought in yesterday at about 12:30. First name Harriet.”

“We can't disclose any personal details, however we can say that she will make a full recovery,” the person replied, “you don't happen to know the mysterious firefighter who helped bring her back to life?”

“Never met them."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As a lifeguard, I felt like including a section on CPR, as that is what we are extensively trained to do.


	6. Lockup

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kate and the crew gets interviewed, they get a candidate, Armack get in trouble

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for sexist language and references of the death of another character

**March 2013**

Sitting and waiting for a dispatch was boring. It was too cold to pull the rigs out to clean them, so Kate and Roux decided to shine the chrome on A-6. Over the PA, they heard the buzz of the doorbell. Not wanting Armack to answer the door and scare away their visitor, Kate ran out to the main area to beat him there. As she ran past the common room, Kate observed Armack sleeping on the couch, oblivious to the visitor.

It was a teenage girl. Her hair was pulled back into a crude ponytail, pieces of the light brown locks flying free. She held a notebook and said, “Hello. I am doing a school project and I need to interview someone in the profession I would like to pursue.”

“Awesome,” Kate said and she felt a smile creep onto her face, “come on inside.” Kate led the girl to the common room and pointed to the long rectangular table. The girl sat down and placed the notebook on the table in front of her. Poking her head into the rig deck, Kate shouted, “yo, Roux. Common room. Could you find Tosh and Macken plus E-43?”

Kate sat across from the girl and asked, “so, what's your name?”

“E-43’s getting groceries,” Roux replied before heading off to find Tosh and Macken.

“Charlie Cetyl and I go to Westmount Charter School. It's a Career and Life Management project,” Charlie looked like she was going to explode. She was smiling so wide Kate wondered how she didn't sprain a cheek muscle.

“I’m Lieutenant Kate Delitto. So how can we help you?” The other guys started filtering in and soon Charlie was surrounded. Kate did quick introductions, “Roux, Tosh, and Macken.”

“I have eight questions,” Charlie said, opening her notebook. “Is this a long term job?” Charlie asked and they all looked at each other, trying to decide who should answer.

Finally, Roux spoke up and answered, “Yes. There is every opportunity to move up the ranks, and many people we know are quite old.” Kate was impressed that Charlie didn't try to copy word by word that was said, just enough that she could remember what was said.

“What is the hardest part of this job?”

Tosh raised his hand slightly and replied, “leaving our families. I don't know how much of my little girls’ life I've missed. Then when you come home, it's hard to be normal again. They never really understand.”

“All the death and destruction,” Macken added, “You see the dead, the almost dead and the dying. You see people who have lost everything. Most days your brain just wishes to forget what your eyes have seen.” Kate nodded in agreement and found, the guys were nodding as well.

“What extra knowledge do you think would benefit someone in an entry level position?”

“SCUBA diving or rock climbing,” Roux answered, “other stations near the river get lots of calls about that.”

“Where did you receive your training?”

Kate started, “Lakeland.” “Me as well,”

Tosh said. “I think we all came from Lakeland except for Thibaut,” Macken said and everyone nodded.

“I was trained in France,” Roux explained. “Is there any further information you wish you could have had?”

“Well,” Tosh said, “I can’t speak for everyone, but I would have liked to take some higher level EMT courses.”

“We really get every chance to ‘continue our education’ at work. There is training courses held every month,” Macken said, standing up and heading to the kitchen sink.

“Are there lots of opportunities for young people in this field?”

“Yes. Everyday. Aside from lack of funds in the department these days, there are always probie’s being pulled in from Lakeland,” Kate said, “There are 43 fire halls in Calgary and the probationary period lasts for about eighteen months. Depending on the size of the hall, there could be up to four probie’s there at a time.”

“What is your opinion on having a female lieutenant?”

“Delitto is the best,” Tosh said, “when we were in high school together, and Delitto said that she was going to be a firefighter, I thought she was nuts.”

“When I came over from France,” Roux said, “I had never seen a female firefighter before. At the time, Delitto was just a Probationary Firefighter but on one of the first fires I responded to on A-6, I had no doubt she could pull her weight.”

“The last two questions are just for Lieutenant Delitto,” Charlie said and Roux led the way, standing up to give them some privacy. The rest of the guys followed.

“What is the hardest part of being a female in a male dominated profession?”

“The lack of understanding. They think that just because we are ladies that we didn’t have to take the same physical tests as they did. That's incorrect. Also, only 0.04% of firefighters in Calgary are female. That's a large gender gap,” Kate said, remembering the look on her mentors face when they were first introduced. Confusion.

“I watched a documentary recently where a bunch of female firefighters were speaking out about sexual harassment at their workplace. Is that common?”

“Charlie, we work side by side with men everyday, it is common enough for good natured teasing. Sexual harassment is more common that it should be. I don’t want to write it off as “it's just what men do,” but there are so many opportunities for teasing that could be considered lewd or inappropriate. Sometimes, you end up at a good hall. The guys I work with are incredible but there have been cases of some halls being worse than others,” Kate responded and wished that she had a better answer for Charlie.

“Thank you for your time Lieutenant,” Charlie said. They both stood and Kate said, “here, let me write down my email if you have any other questions.” Charlie held out the tattered notebook to Kate and she wrote “katherine.delitto@calgary.ca.”

“Anytime you want to come back and visit, just let me know.”

“Thank you,” Charlie said again and Kate walked her out of the fire hall. Kate watched her walk over to an old, red minivan, where she climbed in and the van drove away. It was a year before they saw Charlie again.

* * *

Next shift, Armack’s turnout coat hung limply in the turnout room, Kate noticed as she grabbed her burlap jacket and pants. She hauled the thirty pounds worth of burlap and metal towards the right side back door of A-6. Once again, LT Armack was late and Kate wondered who he had set up to take over. Kate took the stairs two at a time to Cap's office after the PA system paged her.

“Cap?” Kate asked, knocking on the wooden door frame due to the open door. He looked up and took off his reading glasses.

“I just got off the phone with Sergeant James Macken,” he said and Kate was seriously curious about why a Calgary Narcotics Police Sergeant, who was also the twin brother of one of her crew, Kenny Macken, was in contact with Brandon after Armack suspiciously did not show up to shift. “Armack is sleeping down in lockup at the 14th district after being caught up in a bar fight.”

“Of course,” Kate muttered scratching the side of her jaw, “And who is replacing him today?”

“You. And a new probationary firefighter is coming today for your rig. Make an impression Delitto, we need this young man to stay here,” Cap said and Kate excused herself.

The crew was cleaning the rig when a young man walked up the apron. He had a duffel bag over his shoulder and Kate figured that this was the new probie Cap told them about this morning. Richard Bayfew-Conly. Straight out of high-school, and from what Kate could tell, Bayfew-Conly was a born firefighter. He walked with a bounce in his step, generally uncommon for a man with as much muscle as was apparent. Yet there was a certain youth still in his eyes, a vulnerability he wanted no one to see. Kate met him at the side door and greeted the young man. His handshake was solid.

“Am I late?” He asked, a certain worry in his eyes, “The packet that was mailed to me said shifts started at precisely at eight.”

“No, you’re on time. We are all just early.” She introduced him to the crew as they went along and when they made it to Captain Brandon’s office, Kate saw that Cap was on the phone and knocked on the door. He waved them in and told whomever he was speaking with that they would get a call back.

“Richard Bayfew-Conly,” Cap said, “I am Captain Alec Brandon, I run Engine 43, but also supervise the rig you are on.” The two men shook hands before the probationary firefighter was showed to sit down. Kate lingered at the back of the room.

“Even though the name on my coat says “Bayfew-Conly,” I prefer just Conly. Ricky Conly,” Conly said and Kate nodded at Cap, showing her agreement in the change. “Alright then, Conly, Delitto will show you to your locker and then to your bunk. And Delitto, I want everyone out drilling.”

“Yes Captain,” Kate answered and mentally started categorizing the various drills that they could do in gear. It was minus 16 outside and they needed to practice some removals on the aerial.

“Dismissed,” he said and they walked out of the office and towards the stairs.

Conly followed behind her and they arrived at the bunkroom. Kate pointed to a locker that was designated as the “Probie Locker.” The door didn’t close properly and a hole was drilled through the metal to allow for pranks.

“Put your stuff away and grab your turnout gear. We’ll be drilling on the apron,” Kate told Conly. As Kate walked back through the house, she found all of the crew and told them a similar version of what she had told Conly. About two minutes later, all the crew was amassed on the apron, bundled up in their turnout gear.

“Alright, we’re practicing removals using the aerial. Tosh, could you pull out A-6 and get it in position?”

“On it LT,” Tosh said, jogging back inside and grabbed the key. He opened the bay door, then started the rig. The truck rumbled to life and Tosh drove it down the apron, stopping at the spot he knew was best to do a removal from the roof of the station. Kate remembered LT SeDyeor drilling Tosh endlessly on positioning the aerial. An engineer before a Lieutenant, SeDyeor would take chalk and pylons, mark the spot he wanted Tosh to park the rig in, then outline it in pylons. If Tosh knocked over a pylon, he would have to back out and start all over again. Eventually, the pylons were removed and only the chalk lines remained, then, as a final challenge, the crew lined up on the perimeter of the chalk line. Even though he hated the daily drilling at the time, Tosh could now expertly line up A-6 to almost any building and situation. Today was no exception, within a minute, Kate could see that A-6 was parked beside the hall with absolute perfection. He hopped out of the cab and stood with the rest of the crew.

Kate had found the weighted dummy and once the aerial was raised to the roof, she climbed up with the 150 pound plastic, human-like form and placed it on the roof. Once on the ground, Tosh lowered the aerial and they all climbed into the rig. Taking their seats, Tosh backed further down the driveway. The crew had drilled this scenario dozens of times and Kate turned in her seat to see how Conly was handling everything. He looked a little like a deer caught in the headlights, but otherwise mentally prepared to take this drill as real.

“So,” Kate started, “The dummy up on the roof is a victim. Everyone will get a turn to climb the ladder as ‘lead’ and ‘assist,’ and bring the dummy to the ground, replace it and go again. Go for it, Tosh.” He drove the rig up to its spot and slammed it into park. They all hopped out and Tosh ran around to the back and raised the aerial.

“Roux lead, Macken assist. Get up there, the victim is dying,” Kate instructed and the two men climbed the ladder.

“What's four things to remember when removing a victim?” Kate asked Conly, who stood beside her peering up at the two men climbing the aerial ladder.

“Er, well, first thing, you need to take the victim's life over limb, because at this point we don't know the extent of their injuries.”

“Good, three more.”

“Three point contact with the aerial. Check your lifeline because the roof may cave in. And… I’m sorry I don’t remember the last one.”

“There isn’t a last one probie. It was a test. I wanted to see if you would try to make up something to fill the gap. Good asking.” At that point, Roux and Macken had reached the ground and Anderson walked onto the apron with the newfangled wireless phone in his hand.

“Macken! It's your brother!” Kate nodded to Macken who took off his gloves and took the phone from Anderson.

Kenny nodded into the phone a couple times as he spoke with his identical twin brother, James, before announcing, “Armack is being released from lockup at Precinct 14. He wants to come to shift.”

Kate vehemently resisted rolling her eyes and instead said, “I'll go see what Cap has to say.”

* * *

And that was how Kate ended up getting physically restrained by Tosh and Roux in the lockup room at the 14th precinct.

“It's not worth it Kate,” Kate heard Tosh telling her. It started off innocent enough, but then Armack started getting mad at her for running a drill with the probie.

"You're not trained enough!" Armack had screamed when he asked what he had missed the past four hours of shift he had missed.

"I'm trained to the same level as you," Kate had replied, having not yet lost her cool.

"You're only half the firefighter as anyone else and you're passing it onto the probie," he had sneered.

"Leave Conly out of this!" Kate almost had shouted, her resolve cracking.

"John was easier on you, you don't know what we do," Armack said and Kate knew he was purposely trying to make a dig at the late Lieutenant John SeDyeor, "John was too easy on you."

That was when Kate cracked. "Stop talking about him like you were friends, John hated you! I am tested every year, same as you, and I pass!"

Thankfully, a cop still had an arm on Armack, so he didn't get any closer to her but then he said, "how often do you think of him? Sandwiched under the rubble? Being dragged out of that damn house dead?"

That was when Kate had tore away from Kyler, who had, at some point put a hand on her shoulder, and charged at Armack. But Kyler and Thibaut grabbed her before she could do anything she regretted. Macken and the cop grabbed Armack and pulled him away from Kate.

“Let's go sit outside,” Kyler told her and they walked outside, Roux staying behind with Conly and Macken.

Kyler and Kate sat on the bumper of A-6 and Kate shook her arms out of the suspenders of her turnout pants and slumped over, bracing her elbows on her knees. “I miss John,” Kate said, a teardrop running down her nose, “I was doing so good. I hadn't thought of him in a while.”

“I know you may feel like you're going backwards on any progress,” Kyler said, rubbing her back, “but, it's okay to feel sad once in awhile.”

“It was just the way he was talking about John. I couldn't let Armack dirty John's memory. He doesn't deserve that.”

“No he doesn't,” Kyler agreed.

Kate took her left wrist in her right hand and ran her thumb over the scar there, under which lay a metal plate. “It it wasn't for John I wouldn't be here today.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just so we are all clear, Conly would not have been placed on a speciality rig for his candidacy. I wrote the story before I learned that, and it would have wrecked the character development and story line to change it, so I just left it.


	7. Hardiansyah

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kate reunites with an old friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for "on screen" character death, pregnacy scares and mentions of PTSD

**April 2013**

Armack had not yet shown up when the station alarm went off, “T-23, T-22, E-43, E-18, E-23, E-22, H-2, R-22, R-43, A-6, any available ambo’s, apartment complex fire, 1st street and 12th ave. Smoke showing. Please be advised that multiple calls have been made from this location.”

“Shit,” Kyler said as they all jumped up from their seats in the eating room. Climbing into the rig, Kate watched Conly take a seat as they pulled away from the station. They roared at breakneck speed along Deerfoot south then onto Memorial drive.

Over the radio, Kate heard Cap’s voice say loud and clear what John SeDyeor used to say before going out to a big call, “43. We have each other's backs because we all trained for this moment. Let's all put our boots back on tonight.”

* * *

The moment they knew it was a no-doubter was when they smelt the smoke. It was dark outside already and they could see a cloud of black smoke being illuminated by fire. They could see flames shooting out the windows of the apartment complex and other companies were on scene.

The Incident Commander jogged over and requested the aerial to be raised to maximum height. It extended up 21 floors, Kate knew because that was the capability. Other firefighters were running in and out of the building and dropping off civilians to an awaiting ambulance. Kate tuned out the roar of the fire and the screaming people before radioing to the Incident Commander that the aerial was up. The IC assigned companies to go up the ladder, start halfway up the complex.

“Tosh, stay with the rig, Macken, Roux, grab air, you’re with me. Conly, stay with Tosh,” Kate instructed. Conly looked like he was about to say something in response, but closed his mouth and made his way over to Tosh. Climbing the ladder was a slow process. They had a halligan in hand and climbed up, hunched over the metal bars and at the 21st floor, they broke through the window and fanned out to search the building. The flames had not yet reached this floor, but the smoke was thick. It appeared to be a small apartment that they had broken the window to and Macken, Roux and Delitto turned to the left, while Wade, Jeannot and DeSantis went to the right.

At the first door, Delitto announced, “CALGARY FIRE DEPARTMENT!” Over the roar of the fire they yelled before turning around and booting the door open. Roux and Macken performed a similar movement to Kate and soon they had searched the entire hallway. Through the fire escape, they went down a floor. A large blast shook the building and over the radio sewn to the outer shell of her turnout gear, Kate could hear a Mayday call.

“MAYDAY MAYDAY, MAN DOWN, 20th floor, southeast corner, FIREFIGHTER DOWN, I repeat, MAN DOWN!” the person added. They were easy to spot. Six firefighters, three unmoving on the ground, two that appeared completely mobile and one that was being supported and favoring a leg by another. One of the two mobile ones was hoisting a co-worker over his shoulders. Macken did the same and followed the other towards the awaiting aerial. Kate and Roux grabbed the last one and made it to the ladder as the building was rocked by another explosion.

“THE SMOKE IS TURNING BLACK, ALL CREWS PULL BACK, I REPEAT, PULL BACK!” the IC radioed. The heat of the fire was infusing her turnout gear as Kate waited to go down the aerial. Fresh air was an incredible feeling, she noticed, standing on the ground, pulling off her SCBA mask after delivering the man she and Roux pulled out to an awaiting ambulance.

“Kate?” Roux called. She turned to face him and noticed the concern etched into his features. On shift, Roux was a professional and never referred to anyone by their first names, but something was wrong.

“The man we pulled out?” Kate nodded and Roux continued, “It was Kipper Hardiansyah. I'm sorry.” He walked around the other side of A-6 and Kate felt her heart pounding hard. _Please let him be okay_.

Kate ran from ambulance to ambulance, desperately searching for her former boyfriend, but nowhere could she find the man she dated. So, she told herself, that that meant he was already on the way to a hospital. And if he was on his way to the hospital, he must have been stable enough for transport.

The four firefighters they pulled out were, amazingly, the only departmental injuries. Max Cross was sent to the hospital for a suspected fractured femur. Darrel Torrey and Jake Morel were transported unconscious, but in stable condition to hospital. Kipper Hardiansyah, Kate later learned from Cap, was not so lucky. His heart stopped on scene, but the paramedics were able to use the AED to act as a pacemaker, keeping him as stable as possible until they arrived at hospital. Kipper. Kate wanted to reach out and hold his hand just as he had done for her when she sat on the bed of an ambulance, cradling a broken wrist and nursing a fractured ankle, watching paramedics perform CPR on John SeDyeor seven years ago.

* * *

21 civilians dead, 45 in hospital, including four firefighters. The radio call came at three in the morning.

_3:13 am. Firefighter Kipper Hardiansyah. November 12, 1977 to April 23 2013. Killed in the line of duty. He will always be remembered by his family, friends and coworkers. Rest easy, you will never be forgotten._

Kate gave a small salute before sitting down at her desk. Questions flooded her mind. The scene at the fire replayed over and over in her mind.

_Was there anything that they could have done differently?_

* * *

Kate stood in front of A-6, a polishing cloth in one hand and in the other she held the container of wax. Working her muscles to massage the wax into the steel sheeting of the rig helped Kate keep her brain from eating it's way through all the doubts she had concocted about the fire that killed Kipper. The moon shone bright through the rig deck doors, casting eerie shadows on the concrete floor. She was so engaged in shining the chrome that her probie's question startled her and made Kate jump.

“What are you doing LT?” Conly asked.

“Waxing the rig,” Kate replied, wondering what Conly thought she was doing.

“I was just curious, I thought you or Armack would have made me do it. I am the probie,” Conly replied, grabbing a second rag from where it hung on the bumper of the truck. “Leaders lead from the front, no matter how small the task,” she replied and turned back to the passenger side rear door. Conly had moved around to the tool doors.

They worked in silence before Conly said, “Hey LT, can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.”

“Did you know Hardiansyah very well?”

“Not as well as I would have liked to. He was a really great guy,” Kate replied, turning back towards the rig, blinking her eyes to prevent tears.

“Delitto,” Cap said from behind her. His voice sounded concerned and she saw Conly give him a nod before exiting.

“How are you?”

“I'm fine, Cap, it's just going to take some time.” Kate replied.

“If you need some time off, no one will ask any questions,” Cap stated and Kate smiled a little and nodded a thank you. “I just spoke with Jan Hardiansyah. They are thinking of putting the funeral next Tuesday.” Cap walked out of the rig deck without a second glance and Kate slumped onto the fender of A-6 and shook her head.

* * *

_For all intents and purposes, there was never a baby, and there never will be another._

Kipper was ten years older than Kate, but for five and a half months, they dated. After meeting at the annual Friends of Firefighters Barbecue, they were a casual couple, until one night when they forgot something. It was quite a surprise when the pregnancy test showed positive, but Kipper was supportive and never balked from the thought of a child. Kate went to the doctor, but found that she would and has always been infertile, the pregnancy test was faulty. They then broke up, but kept it contact until Kipper married Jan and they slowly stopped talking, and only seeing each other at various CFD functions.

* * *

At eight that morning, when they got off shift, Kate just drove straight to Adam’s apartment. She didn’t change, just hauled herself into her Crown Vic and started the engine. Out the passenger window, she could see Conly getting into his beat up truck. Giving a nod, Kate backed out of her spot and turned onto the Deerfoot.

“Kate?” Adam asked as he opened his apartment door and let Kate in. She had left her bag and coat in the car and was now shivering in the cool April morning. His apartment was warm and, while cluttered, not untidy. She followed Adam in, numb to feeling and pliant to be dragged.

“Sit,” Adam ordered, pulling out one of the two chairs at the table near the kitchen, “I’m going to get dressed then we can talk.” Moving his pyjama clad body back in the direction of the singular bedroom, Kate rested her head in her hands. She hand not slept for the rest of shift, ending the night with less than two hours of sleep. Adrenaline could only keep her awake and functioning for a certain amount of time. She had hit her limit and fell asleep where she sat.

_"Kipper, this is such a nice view," she exclaimed, walking a little closer to the waterfall. The path was uneven, tree roots sticking out everywhere. "Where on earth did you hear about this place?"  "From a guide book I read a few shifts ago. They said Troll Falls is lovely this time of year." Turning around to face him, Kate saw his childlike gaze at the waterfall, an expression likely mirroring hers. But then the face changed. Cuts and bruises formed, changing his face. His expression looked pained and blood started oozing from the cuts. You could have saved me, he said, blood dripping from the corners of his mouth, Did you do all you could?_

“Kate,” she heard someone saying as she shook awake from her nightmare. The sleeves of her uniform were drenched with tears and the gentle hand on her back was not that of Adam’s, but his boyfriend Bretton. She shook, suddenly awake and conscious of the fact that she was just having a nightmare. She was in Adam’s apartment, Bretton was here, and judging by the smell of wonderful cooking, so was Oliver. A blanket was draped over her shoulders and she grabbed the two ends to hold it tighter around herself.

“Hey,” Oliver said, moving from the stove to her side, “You’re okay.”

“I know.” Looking around at the three of her closest friends she suddenly felt ashamed. She was supposed to be the strong one. Oliver was the family man, Adam was the smart one and she was the strong one.

Adam looked scared and she suddenly burst out and said, “Kipper died last night.” A fresh round of tears threatened to surface and Kate blinked them away, “We were all called into the apartment fire downtown.”

“It was on the news,” Bretton said and crossed his arms over his stomach and shook his head.

“The explosion on the 20th floor hit Kipper and his crew. My guys helped them get the injured out. I didn’t even know it was Kipper,” Kate said, barely able to form the words before the pain of the empty hole inside her started screaming. Shoulders collapsing in on themselves, she crumpled to the table top and started crying a puddle of fresh, warm tears over top of the cold, wet marks on her uniform. Kate felt two hands on her shoulders before Oliver leaned over her and hugged her.

* * *

Kate carefully packed her Class A uniform into her locker. At ten, Kate would leave shift and drive to the Confederation Park Graveyard for Kipper’s funeral. The crew was pleasant at breakfast, not too rowdy. Even Armack managed to stay out of her way.

Very few people knew her former relationship with Kipper, and of those people, one was dead, one was in permanent retirement and living in Florida, and one was working in Arson Investigation. The only others were Cap, Armack, Tosh, Roux, Wade and Tartenhouser, all who were around when she had her pregnancy scare.

At twenty to ten, Kate retreated to the locker room and started changing into her uniform. Starched black pants, shined black dress boots, ironed white shirt with her bugles sewn onto the collars, black dress jacket with her badge clipped to the left breast pocket and medals on the other side. She tucked her white hat under her arm and put her formal white gloves in the pocket of the jacket.

Kate stood at attention at the front of the area at the Confederation Park Civic Graveyard that had been set aside, saluting the closed casket containing Kipper Hardiansyah. A Canadian flag was draped over the lid and O’Canada was played by a troop of bagpipes. There was about fifteen other men in uniform standing on either side of her. Kate did not notice much of what was around her, her thoughts occupied her mind and the movements she performed were so second nature that she may as well have not been making them.

_What if the baby happened? Would Kipper and I have been married? Then I would have had to transfer to a desk job. Would Kipper still have died? I would be the grieving widow of a firefighter._

The flag was folded and handed to Jan. She took it with shaking hands and nodded to the young man who presented it to her. The casket was lowered into the ground and the funeral was over. Kate stood in her place, numb to all feeling.

“I'm sorry buddy, I'm so sorry,” Kate muttered in the direction of the disturbed ground, moving towards the area, “We always spoke of the end of the line, but neither of us thought it would be so soon.”

Her knees buckled and then she was kneeling on the damp ground, too numb to cry, so instead she kept talking, “I pulled you out of the fire. I didn't know it was you, there was blood all over the glass of your mask. You were breathing, so we left your mask on. Then one of my guys brought you to an ambo,” Kate took a heavy, deep breath, “I'm sorry,” and when her voice stopped working, she just knelt there, feeling the damp ground soaking through her dress pants and freezing her knees. But Kate couldn't find the will in her to care.

“This is where it ends,” she whispered and tucked her head down to her chest and when her hat fell off, Kate still couldn't care. She felt a hand rest on her shoulder and she slowly turned her head.

“Rodney,” Kate whispered, recognizing the man she dated, “What are you doing here?”

“Jan and I were in the same history course at University,” he replied, “I thought I recognized you.” Kate gave a half hearted smile. She grabbed her hat and stood up. They were quiet for a while and Kate could feel all sorts of questions that Rodney was aching to ask but wouldn't.

“I need to get back to work,” Kate said suddenly, pulling away from Rodney. She walked towards the parking lot but was not surprised to hear Rodney call out her name.

“Can I buy you a drink later today?” Rodney asked with a concerned look on his face.

“I’m at work until eight or later tonight, and I may not be done until ten if we get a call,” Kate informed him, prying off her white gloves.

“That’s fine. I’ll meet you at the Blue Bay whenever you can make it,” Rodney told her before pulling her in for a hug. Under any other circumstance, Kate would have appreciated the kind gesture, but she was at a funeral for a man that she had almost had a baby with, and recovered him from the fire that took his life, and she was hugging another man?

“Sorry, I have to go,” Kate muttered and pulled away from Rodney.

“I’ll see you tonight,” he said but Kate didn’t answer before throwing her hat onto the passenger seat before climbing into her Crown Vic.

* * *

The Blue Bay was a cute bar in a quiet neighbourhood. Parkdale was a little farther from home then Kate usually ventured, but it was by the Bow River. It was 8:30 pm by the time Kate had got away from work but a half-hour drive later, she arrived at the Blue Bay. There was a good sized crowd mingling around the bar, but Kate was able to spot Rodney. He wore jeans and a white tee shirt, a combination she had never seen him wear before. And man, did it look good on him. It showed off the layer of muscle that Kate now knew he hid under most of the other clothes he wore.

Kate bought a Coke from the bar, and made her way to sit beside him at a booth.

“Hey,” she said, covering his hand with hers, the empty hole in her chest aching. Reminding herself that she and Kipper had be “a thing” over half a decade ago, she sat beside the blond school teacher.

“G’evening,” Rodney replied, his eyes sad and clouded. They sat in silence, Rodney sipping from a bottle of beer and Kate from a can of Coke. A TV was on in the background, showing recaps of a baseball game. Kate's mind wandered. But it always returned to Kipper. They were prepared to start a life together, have a child together.

“Kate, did you hear me?” Rodney's voice started her from her thoughts.

“What? I'm sorry Rodney,” Kate stuttered, “I didn't hear your question.”

“Were you at the funeral for Kipper or Jan?”

“What do you want to hear Rodney?” Kate asked, feelings and emotions bubbling to the surface, “Because I feel like you know the answer, but want a different one.” Kate pulled away and turned to face him, Rodney looked at her, emotions swirling in his brown eyes.

“You were at the funeral for Kipper.”

“Yes,” Kate stated. She was still debating whether or not to actually come right out and say that she and Kipper were romantically involved.

“You know, we’ve only known each other for two months and I don’t even know if we are a couple or what, but if you want to talk, I’ll listen,” Rodney said, turning towards her in the booth.

“Thanks, really,” they sat silently when a thought popped out of her mouth, “Is that what we are?”

“A couple, you mean?” Rodney asked, setting his lite beer on the table.

Kate nodded and he continued, “I think so. Is that what you want?”

“I think so, yeah,” Kate answered and Rodney took her hand, “I was pregnant,” blurted out of her mouth.

Rodney nodded slowly before asking, “with Kipper?”

“It happened when I was eighteen,” Kate started and the tears began. Someone turned on a faucet behind her eyes and the story just poured out. The baby, the fact that she is infertile, and all of her worries just flowed out of her. The hardest part was acknowledging the fear that the time it took to get him out of the building could have been what caused his death.

“Come here,” Rodney said and pulled Kate into a hug. She went willingly and leaned against his shoulder. Rodney held her tight and when the tears stopped, Kate suddenly was exhausted, the lack of sleep and adrenaline from shift wearing her down.

* * *

“How are you holding up?” Thibaut asked the next night on shift. They were sitting at the dispatch desk, the sky dark and no snow falling.

“I’m fine,” Kate promised, “You know, we hadn’t actually talked in a few years, so-.”

“So…?” Thibaut asked with his heavy French accent.

“So it was almost like any other LOD,” Kate said. She knew that was a harsh comment, considering Thibaut had lost more comrades in the Line of Duty than any of her other coworkers. The French military not only included the average Army, Navy, Airforce, and Marine factions that Canada and the United States had, but the Police, Fire and Ambulance forces as well. Thibaut served in Les Sapeurs-Pompiers Français for four years before moving to Canada and joining the Calgary Fire Department.

“You know, back in 2004, one of my buddies, Alacide Traverse, was killed in a vehicle explosion,” Thibaut said, spinning in the office chair he was sitting in.

“Geez, I’m sorry, that was a harsh comment, I didn’t mean-,” Kate said before Thibaut interrupted. “It was a gas truck. Traverse was only nineteen. Every single June 8th after that day I have felt that hole within you. It's not just for people you love, it's for anyone you have seen die right in front of you.”

“I feel like I am being eaten alive, you know? I was not even there when he died.”

“I thought I was holding up pretty good,” Thibaut continued. He had stopped spinning in the chair and suddenly his eyes were blank stares out onto the rig deck. Kate bet he was not even seeing the trucks, “We had had five LOD’s that year in my group. But Traverse was the last I saw in France. I saw the life leave his eyes as he lay there on the concrete. It ripped the hole in my chest to a point where I couldn’t continue. I quit Les Sapeurs-Pompiers that evening. I met you two years later.”


	8. Convocation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kate meets Rodney's roommate, Anna graduates

**April 2013**

She rang the doorbell of 221, the apartment Rodney lived in with his friend from university. When Rodney invited her over, he had said that it was Dylan, his roommate’s idea. Rodney answered the door and she was enveloped in the most amazing smell.

“Hey, how was shift?” Rodney asked.

“Pretty ordinary, actually,” Kate said. She had been on shift last night and while they were busy, nothing noteworthy happened.

Dylan had cooked Eggplant Parmigiana and spaghetti for supper and they sat down to eat at the pint sized table they had in their old kitchen. The apartment did not look like it had been renovated since it was built in probably the early 2000’s, but it did look like they had kept it in good, working condition.

“Rodney said that you are a Lieutenant,” Dylan said as he placed a serving tray on the kitchen table.

Kate smiled, “Yes, I am, however not in the traditional sense. You become a lieutenant after you take the test, but a Lieutenant leads a truck company. I took the test but I don’t have my own truck company.”

Rodney opened his mouth and looked like he was about to say something, but Dylan interrupted. “So I bet you’ve seen some pretty interesting things.”

“Well, define interesting. I have seen things that I consider interesting that would make other people’s blood curdle and things that are so obscure that they are funny. Take your pick,” Kate said. If Dylan was squeamish of blood, most of the events that she thought were interesting would probably gross most people out.

“Funny, please,” Dylan said, extravagantly waving his arms around, “I cannot stand blood darling.” Kate chuckled and wondered if Dylan usually behave that way.

“I can think of a few stories,” Kate said, “ a common favorite would have to be the turkey one though.” Rodney opened his eyes wide and looked ready to hear the story. Dylan leaned forward on the table and put his head into his hands and rested his elbows on the table.

“It happened back when I was a probie, about eight years ago,” Kate started, “It was Thanksgiving and we were called to a garage fire in Huntington Hills. It was only a couple blocks from the house I live in now. We pulled up to the garage and flames were engulfing a small car and a table. A lady came out of the house to greet us. We were trying to cook a turkey. Why she was cooking a turkey in her garage was beyond me. Anyways, a man then comes out of the backyard and looks at the burning garage. He was obviously inebriated and just stared at the garage. Then the lady says I told you! If you put a beer can up a turkey’s ass, it's going to explode! We put the fire out and headed back to the fire hall and let the cops deal with the mess.”

* * *

Kate parked outside the firehall and let out a whoosh of air. It was amazing how in just a few short months Rodney had become so insinuated in her life. “At lunch,” he promised before she left his apartment last night after sharing supper with him and Dylan, “I'll come see you at lunch.”

After speaking so often of her coworkers, Rodney was desperate to meet them. He had arranged for the clubs he ran at lunch to be moved to the next day, and since Devenmark was not far down the road, Rodney was going to drive over on his lunch break.

Kate walked up the apron and saw that the rig deck doors were wide open. Platoon A was cleaning up the rigs and Kate noticed a little girl running among the men. Kate immediately looked for Tosh’s van and when she saw the old burgundy vehicle, she knew who the girl was. Lilly, Tosh’s daughter. The young girl ran up to her as Kate walked through the threshold.

She was now officially on call.

Lilly waved at Kate and she hoisted the girl up onto her hip and they walked through the hall. In the locker room, Kate deposited Lilly with her father and laughed as she saw the look on Kyler’s face. It read save me, please. His wife and and Lilly’s mother was in Ontario after having taken on some sort of federal defence case.

“How have you guys been making out?” Kate wondered.

“Well, today Lilly won the argument to wear her pyjamas to school,” Kyler said, pulling his navy blue button down over his head. Kate chuckled and raised her eyebrows teasingly.

“Hey,” Kyler continued, “At least I convinced her to have cereal instead of pop-tarts for breakfast.”

“A win,” Kate pointed out while stuffing her bag in her locker, “though I don’t know why you guys even keep those vile things in your house.”

“Ania does groceries,” Kyler grumbled while buttoning his shirt, “which I will have to do tomorrow because we ran out of milk.” And if on cue, a large crash followed from across the locker room. Kyler looked around and noticed that Lilly was no longer sitting on the bench behind him. His shoulders sagged and he grumbled, “If she broke anything, Cap won’t let her in here anymore.”

They walked toward the doors, scanning the rows of lockers for Lilly. In the farthest row, Kate and Kyler saw that Lilly had managed to knock a cleaning bucket off the top of a locker with a broom she had found. Thankfully, there was nothing in the bucket and it had not broken anything.

Kyler checked his watch and said, “time to go to the school bus.” Kyler was lucky. There was a school bus stop for St. Brigid near the fire hall, so he walked her to it on the mornings that Ania was not at home.

After bundling Lilly into a jacket, Kyler stopped by the truck to throw his turnout gear in, incase they got a call while he was out. Being the driver, they wouldn’t get far without Kyler, but Thibaut was officially certified to drive. Kate shook her head and smiled as she watched as they walked down the apron towards the parking lot. She headed back inside and joined the rest of the crew in the common room.

* * *

At nine o’clock, Kate made her way to Captain Brandon’s office. “Morning Cap, Armack’s not here yet,” she reported. After an hour, someone was officially late and the next most qualified person would cover the spot.

“Alright Delitto,” Cap said almost reluctantly, “You’re acting LT this shift. Go find the lead radio.”

“Yes sir,” Kate said before heading out the door and towards the dispatch desk. On the old wooden shelf sat the dispatch monitor, the PA system control and the lead radios. Kate grabbed one and slung the leather belt over her shoulder.

Walking into the common room, Kate said, “Armack’s not coming in today.” One of the men in the corner said a near silent “yes,” but Kate let it slide. It wasn't unknown that they disliked him as much as she did.

“But, the showers need to be scrubbed. If we each cover two, the bathrooms will be clean faster.”

“We're not making the probie do it?” Macken proposed teasingly and Jeannot bopped Conly playfully on the shoulder. Kate exaggeratedly put her hands on her hips and looked at them like an exasperated mother. Armack only ever made probies’ do the dirty work, cleaning the rig, cleaning the washrooms, whatever he did not want to do. Instead, Kate took a page out of John SeDyeor’s book. Make the probie feel welcome, not unwanted, and instead of putting them to work, drill them as hard as possible.

* * *

“That’s right Conly, but what if the saw fails?” Kate asked. They were standing out on the side of the apron and Kate had dragged out a bunch of pieces of old plywood. Conly stood on top and was sawing them apart with the chainsaw.

“This saw failed?” Conly asked, raising an eyebrow. Kate knew Conly had all rights to be sceptical, she had got him to check and double check the functionality of all the equipment this morning. He had shed his turnout coat and was standing in minus ten weather in just a long sleeve shirt and turnout pants.

“That’s right, machines fail, men don’t,” she replied, handing him a hand saw. Conly did not protest, but instead took it and got to work cutting the wood. It was Kipper’s line. _“Machines fail, men don’t,”_ and he reminded her every time they worked out together. A pag of longing hit her straight in the chest. It had been years since they would go to the gym early in the morning.

A strange metallic clang cut through her thoughts and brought her back to the present. The wood Conly was trying to cut through was scrap from a housing project and he had hit a metal support embedded in the wood.

“Cut around it if you can’t cut through it,” she told him. In a real situation, it would take more time, but a hand saw would never cut through metal. Kate was now watching his technique, making sure Conly didn’t cut himself, so she was slightly startled to hear the rumble of a Jeep pull up beside her. Looking up, Kate noticed that it was army green and that Rodney was driving.

She told Conly to start packing up and that he had done a good job before approaching Rodney. Rolling down the window, Kate instructed him to park on the left-side visitor parking lot.

* * *

“Hey,” Macken shouted as Kate and Rodney walked into the kitchen, “isn’t that the teacher dude from the school day?”

Kate turned to Rodney to gauge his reaction as he was swarmed by her coworkers. From Macken, Wade, Tartenhouser, Jeannot, DeSantis, McEwan, Roux, Andra, Conly and Anderson, Rodney received a handshake. From Tosh and Cap, he got the man clench. Once introductions had been made and Rodney looked 100% ruffled and confused they opened up the fridge and started making sandwiches for lunch.

In charge of cutting the bread, Kate rolled up her sleeves to above her elbows. Rodney, who was standing beside her and putting the mustard on the bread she was slicing bumped into her with his shoulder.

“I didn’t know you had a tattoo,” he muttered, though in an informative manner, not angered.

“Yah, since I was 21,” Kate replied, “maybe I’ll wear a tanktop sometime and you can see the whole thing.” The tattoo, or at least the part Rodney could see was only the bottom of a flame with a banner. The banner was a dedication to John and contained his name, birth and death dates. The parts still covered up by her shirt included an SCBA mask and more fire, arching up towards her shoulder.

They had only partially ate their sandwiches before the bell tones dropped. “E-43 43, A-6, AHS-2378, vehicle accident, Deerfoot at Glenmore.”

“Stay here until we pull away,” Kate shouted to Rodney as they ran out of the common room towards the rig deck. Shoes off, pants and boots on, jacket on, SCBA in compartments, doors closed, lights on, and sirens on. Kate patted the side of A-6 twice and Tosh drove it out onto the apron.

* * *

“I can't believe that you are finally graduating,” Kate said to Anna as she sat down at the table in Anna's grandmothers kitchen. When she moved out east for university, her grandmother had offered her Anna a bed to stay in.

Mrs. Johnson, Anna's grandmother, put two bowls of soup in front of the girls and encouraged them to dig in before she wandered back into the kitchen. “I was thinking of applying for a position at a hospital back in Calgary,” Anna said, “you know, after tomorrow, I'll be free!” Anna threw her arms over her head and gave a big whoop of laughter and suddenly they were grade six students again.

“Whooo!” Kate exclaimed to match Anna’s excitement.

“The most brutal and exhausting years of my life are almost over,” Anna remarked.

“Now, I may be less educated than you, the the most brutal years of your life are just starting, my friend,” Kate replied.

“To brutal years,” Anna toasted, raising her glass of milk high in the air like it was wine.

“To brutal years,” Kate agreed before their glasses connected.

* * *

Everyone around her was dressed in fancy clothing, very fancy clothing, so Kate felt a little out of place in her CFD uniform. But she wasn't the only one in parade dress. She had seen three Royal Canadian Army officers, one Royal Canadian Naval officer and an RCMP officer. She sat with Anna’s grandmother, little brother Colin and their father, who had arrived that morning. With a last name of Johnson, Anna was close to the beginning of the ceremony and when her best friend's name was called, Kate jumped up from her seat and clapped as loud as she could


	9. Have you cried yet?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They train at the CFD Academy

**May 2013**

The sun was shining bright as they piled into A-6 at eight o'clock that morning. They were taking the rig out to the training academy in Forest Lawn, the northeast part of Calgary. Known for its low cost housing and even lower cost land, it was a perfect place for a twelve acre plot of land dedicated to training the Calgary Fire Department and Police Service. It was hard to miss the big expanses of training Apparatus sprawled out across gravel and concrete. As Tosh drove A-6 over the bumpy, poorly maintained roads that were northeast Calgary, Kate couldn't help but be a little excited.

Tosh pulled the rig around the back, but not before letting Armack out at the main building to check them in. On the parking pad, Tosh maneuvered A-6 into the spot that had been marked out for them and they climbed out to greet the other crews that would also be training with them. Aquatic Rescue 1 and Hazmat 7 had the same amount of people combined as A-6 and Kate knew them all. AQ-1 had a crew of three and a unique rig. It was a Ford F-350, which had been painted CFD style and a silver trailer, on which sat a CFD boat. The boat could be docked at any ramp or flat piece of land and with only four Aquatics rigs in the city, had to be able to go anywhere they were needed. Hazmat 7 had four crew members and one of the best kinds of reputations. The kind where you've only heard about them over the dispatch. Some rigs got bad reputations based on the crew, the turnover rate, or simply their inability to perform as a unit. A rig you never hear about meant they were doing their job.

* * *

“You got this Conly,” Tosh called as their probie pulled on his Self Contained Breathing Apparatus for his second attempt of the day. Conly gave a little tilt of his helmet in recognition of Tosh’s encouragement. It was a beautiful May morning and they stood on the concrete training pad of the Calgary Fire Department Training Center. Every six months each crew had to report to the training center for a mandatory refresher test and to learn new procedures.

So, there they stood, getting ready for their turn to simulate what to do in the case of a flashover. A flashover is the near-simultaneous ignition of most of the directly exposed material in an enclosed area. During a fire situation, it would most likely occur in a shipping container, or small room. So, to simulate such event and what to do in the case of its occurrence, you were sealed into a half-size shipping container.

Kate could remember the first time she was in the flashover simulator. It was nerve-wracking because you go from having limited visibility to zero visibility and then you are suddenly surrounded by fire. All you have to do is get low, and get out of there. There is a small “door” at the end of the container. That's where you go. It's actually relatively simple in theory, but once actually in the situation, it is common to forget and panic. So that's why it is practiced every single training session.

But Conly panicked on his first try. And that was why the trainer had to go in and get him. And that was how Conly ended up sitting on the bumper of A-6 with Kate while he stopped shaking. She had coaxed him out of his turnout coat and had given him a bottle of water. Throwing an arm over the young man's shoulders and talking softly to him eventually calmed Conly enough for him to give it a second try. But the guys were super civil about it, except for Armack.

"What's wrong probie?" He had sneered when they walked back towards the simulator, "you cry yet?"

Kate had scowled at him and said, "oh shut it Armack, he's never done this before."

But on the second try, Conly did make it out on his own. He was a little flustered, but overall fine.

* * *

“There is hazing,” Kate said to Armack as they stood near A-6 on their lunch break, “and there is hazing. I don't know what you have against Conly, and I honestly don't care, but that demonstration today was over the line.” Kate had pulled Armack aside as soon as the trainer dismissed them for a half hour lunch break.

“Don't you see?” Armack stage whispered, “that man is such a fairy he might as well have wings.”

“Yes, I have noticed, but that is not your place. Secondly, it is the twenty-first century, the term is not fairy. It is homosexual.”

“But it's not right. Men and men, it's not how the bible says it. He should be kicked out. A firefighter needs to be a man, not a homosexual,” Armack said, though he spat out the last word, “You're just lucky you have got as high as you have, being a female and all.”

“So the bible condones being an ass to your coworkers? Drinking everyday away?” Kate avoided answering his jest towards her gender and focused on defending Conly’s honor.

“It's not right!” Armack shouted and Kate could see his face turning redder and redder, “I don’t want him being distracted by his coworkers, then he’ll be lying in a grave next to Hardiansyah.”

“So you think he’ll be watching his coworkers instead of the fire he’s fighting?” Kate asked, confused by Armack’s logic, “He’s been with us four months now. When has he been distracted on the job?”

“I don’t care! It’s not how this works!” Armack shouted before storming away towards the eating hall.

And that was when she saw Conly standing within hearing range by A-6. Kate slowly walked towards the probie, shuffling her feet so he could hear her approach with his back turned.

“I'm sorry you had to hear that,” Kate told Conly.

“He's right, you know,” Conly muttered, “you both are.”

“But, if you do come out, nothing will stand in your way,” Kate tried to assure him. But she knew, that Armack would never not make a stink about it.

“Yah yah yah. Don't ask don't tell was repealed, I know.”

“It's your choice, but if you ever want to talk, I'm all ears,” Kate offered.

“Why are you so accepting of this?” Conly asked in disbelief.

“My brother, the one who is 24, Adam, he was beat up bad enough to warrant a hospital visit when he was fifteen because some older kids caught him making out with his boyfriend behind the school. Those two boys hold the most love for each other I have ever seen in two human beings,” Kate explained and when she was done Conly let out a huff of air.

“Let's go get lunch,” Kate said, grabbing his burlap jacket off the bumper of A-6 forcing Conly to follow.

* * *

In the eating area, Kate and Conly sat at the opposite side of the table from Armack, who was scowling into his sandwich. The guys seemed to pick up on the tension between their lieutenants, but thankfully didn't say anything. Kate didn't care how much Armack got mad at her, boss her around or insult her. But now her blood was boiling because it was starting to really affect the rest of the crew. Conly was pale and looked like he was going to puke, and Kate's limited motherly instincts kicked in.

Maybe she couldn't fix Armack behavior, or get the commissioner to listen to her, but if she recorded and brought forth enough evidence of his issues, something may happen. She leaned over to her burlap jacket and rooted through the pockets until she found what she was looking for. The incident notebook that all lieutenants had to carry would serve her purposes. So she made three columns, which were then titled _Date, Location, and Event._ Their nasty conversation was the first entry.

* * *

After shift, she met Bretton, Adam’s boyfriend at the Starbucks that he had texted her about. He was rather secretive and Kate secretly wondered what was up. As she walked into the Starbucks, the sickeningly sweet aroma hit her like a brick wall. Kate never liked fancy froo-froo coffee’s and prefered just a black, no milk, no sugar, cup of joe. Bretton was sitting at one of the fancy leather chairs in a nook and Kate headed over.

“I got you a coffee,” Bretton said, pushing the steaming cup towards her side of the tiny round table. Suddenly wishing she had showered before heading to the coffee shop, Kate sat in the other overstuffed chair and took the coffee in one hand. His hair was currently a royal blue, styled into a half mohawk and contained so much product, Kate figured that he would be a fire hazard in the event of a match. But Bretton lived life out loud, and if he was happy with his new hair color, so was she.

“Thanks. How are you doing?” Kate asked the younger man. Though only one year her junior, she felt an age older than him.

“I’m good. I was wondering,” Bretton started, but paused, as if thinking of how to continue, “what if I was to propose to Adam?”

“If you’re asking for my opinion, it's hell yeah,” Kate said and her mind flashed back to the conversation she had had earlier that day with Ricky at the Academy. RIcky had looked so scared, so small. She was so proud of Bretton though, for finally after nine years of knowing and dating her little brother, was finally going to become family.

“What about your dad?” Bretton asked, his shoulders falling into themselves, just the way Ricky had done and Kate realized the problem. He was terrified of wrecking Adam’s relation to his family.

“I can’t speak for him, his head is stuck in the 1960’s and has never seen you and Adam as anything other than friends,” Kate said, trying to reassure the younger man. His face fell, but Kate continued, “But I’ve seen Adam’s face light up when he sees you. He is a different person and is so completely in love with you.”

“I want to propose, you know,” Bretton added, “I just don’t want to upset your family.”

“Eight years ago, when I left to the Fire Academy in Northern Alberta, my parents were so upset, they didn’t speak to me for the entirety of my training there and when I came back to Calgary, I didn’t speak with them for another five months until I was hurt at a call. You can’t change their minds and if you wait, give them time, I bet our parents will come around.”

“But if that's how they reacted to you becoming a firefighter, how about their son marrying another man?” Bretton looked on the verge of tears and Kate took one last stab at reasoning with him.

“You are who you are. How much would you regret not marrying Adam if you didn’t?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is one of the most amazing things I have ever experienced in my life. For my 16th birthday, I, as an aspiring firefighter, had the opportunity to visit the CFD Training Academy. It was amazing and this chapter, while attempting to do the facility justice, I don't think I did it very well.


	10. The Flood of a Century

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anyone hear or experience the Calgary Flood of 2013? Back in 2008, we had "the flood of the century." Except, just kidding, because five years later, we had another "flood of the century." Ridiculous.

**June 20 2013**

The ringtone of Kate’s phone startled her awake. Though, before she could answer it, it dumped to voicemail. Checking the time on the clock beside her bed, she saw that it was three thirty in the morning. Fumbling around on her night table, Kate was able to grab her phone. Four missed calls, the most recent from Cap. Sitting up and turning on her bedside lamp, Kate opened up her phone and called Cap.

“Delitto, finally,” Cap practically shouted when he picked up after the first ring.

“What is it?” Kate replied. Something was wrong, Kate could feel it, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. Something bad was happening.

“Turn on the news, get dressed and get down here. Calgary just declared a State of Emergency,” Cap said before pausing. She could hear someone talking in the background before he told her, “You have a half-hour. We’re receiving evacuation orders at 4:00.”

He then hung up. Turning on the television, Kate turned her back to the screen and went to her closet. But her Class B uniform was sitting in a wet, crumpled pile in her washing machine from the night before. So she had three choices of what to wear. Her formal Class A uniform, her casual Class C uniform or regular everyday, off shift clothes. Opting for the Class C uniform, Kate brought it out and threw it on her bed. Looking at the television, all Kate could see was water. It was rushing through the neighbourhoods of High River, overflowing the banks of the Bow River, flooding onto the streets of Lower Downtown Calgary.

It had rained all last shift and they had heard radio calls of the South Calgary Fire Stations of 5, 8, 9, 16 and 23 being sent south to High River to help with evacuations of the town. Only a matter of time, was how Kyler had put it last night as they were walking off shift. It was only a matter of time until Calgary was hit with the same wave of water that all the other Southern Alberta municipalities were.

* * *

“Morning Cap,” Kate greeted the man as she walked into 43 at 3:57. Just the short walk from the parking lot beside the Station into the rig deck had caused her to be almost completely soaked. The rain hadn’t yet let up and they were going on six days of non-stop rain.

“Orders just came in,” Cap said waving a piece of paper with typed instructions on it over his head while walking towards her, “Platoon B will take F-8972 downtown to Sunnyside,” he continued, “Platoon A is staying here with A-6 and E-43 incase of another rescue.”

When she walked in, she had noticed an older Engine from the Academy on the apron, it must have been F-8972. They kept the older, well running rigs around for cases like these.

“Are we bringing everyone?” Kate said asked about all of Platoon B’s E-43 and A-6 crew.

“Everyone who’s here,” Cap replied, “Armack and Tartenhouser haven’t phoned back yet.”

“Tartenhouser lives down near High River, right?” Kate asked, she could remember him grumbling about his hour and a half drive into work each day.

“You’re right. You know, he’s probably been evacuated,” Cap responded, “I’ll phone him back and tell him to make sure he and Janet are safe and then we’ll head out.”

“I’ll marshall the guys at the truck. How are we going to fit all twelve of us into a rig that normally seats six?”

“Double up in the back row, pull down the door drop-seats. Just make it work, I wanna be on the road in three minutes.”

Kate headed off to the PA desk and grabbed the black corded phone off its hook. “Platoon B, E-43, A-6 we are heading to downtown for evacuations. On the apron, t-minus three minutes.”

Following her guys to the turnout room, Kate found her gear hanging, still wet from the night previous, where she had put it. Climbing into her burlap pants, Kate closed her eyes and pretended that they were not soaked and pulled the suspenders over her shoulders. Conly caught her arm as she was walking towards F-8972.

“LT, is Armack here yet?” After the incident at the Academy, Conly had stopped calling Armack “LT” and it became a nickname reserved for her alone.

“He is not. If he isn’t here when we roll away, he’s not coming with us today,” Kate told him. He made no comment but Kate could see in his shoulders and face that he was pleased by the response.

Opening the doors to the rig, she started pulling door the jump-seats and shuffling stuff around to allow for SCBA space. Putting some of the air tanks in the compartments meant for other equipment that they would not need for evacuations freed up more space inside the rig and Kate started packing the guys in like sardines. Jeannot graciously let Tosh drive, due to the older man being more experienced in the operation of firetrucks in general. Leaving the seat in on the center console of the front row empty for herself and the shotgun seat for Cap, she let the other guys try to squish in. They had packed their jackets into the compartments to allow for more cab space, but Kate still suggested that the back row, having to fit four people across, be reserved for those of them who were more lean. Jeannot, Anderson, Conly and Roux managed to find space along the back bench, with Roux joking the entire time that they could bring more crew if they sat on each others laps. The remaining guys, DeSantis, Wade and Macken, sat on the backward facing seats.

* * *

Water sloshed at the tires and rain pounded on the roof of F-8972 as Tosh carefully maneuvered the 2004-era fire truck down the peaceful streets of Sunnyside. When Tosh put the old rig into park, the air brakes squealed their complaint but cooperated and the vehicle stopped in front of the Calgary Curling Club building where there were three other Academy issue rigs were parked. F-6723 and F-3168 were packed to the brims of guys from Station 28 and 34 from the North West.

Jumping out of the cab, the cool morning air greeted Kate. The force of her contact with the ground splashed water up the outsides of the legs of her turnout gear and she was glad it was waterproof. The Bow River had crested its banks and the streets of Sunnyside had joined the main water source of the City of Calgary. Rain poured down her head and shoulders, soaking through her shirt in moments.

“Take those apartments, we already have some guys down the streets,” Captain Sean Grady from 28 told them. The guys were grabbing their radios and heading down the street towards the two-storey apartments when Captain Grady added, “evacuation is mandatory. If they do not leave, make a note on your clipboard and radio one of the Captains over.” Kate and Cap nodded their thanks to Captain Grady before following their guys down the street. They split up into groups of two to cover the different buildings quicker.

By the time Kate and Conly had made it to the second floor of the apartment complex she had deliberately chosen, most of the residents were awake and packing their stuff.

“Calgary Fire Department,” Kate announced as she knocked on door 221 and was surprised that it took the resident as long to answer the door as it did.

“Kate?” Rodney asked as he pulled open the door.

“You are under mandatory evacuation. Pack a bag and get out before the roads become impassable,” she warned him. Still in a dazed state, Rodney looked out the door, past her, and into the night. He probably caught a glimpse of the flooded state of the roads from the light of the street lights and suddenly understanding crossed his features.

“Take this,” Kate said, prying the spare house key she carried in her turnout jacket out of its pocket, “I live in the basement suite, the address is on the key.”

“Be safe,” Rodney said, “Thanks Kate.” He retreated into his house and she turned to continue down the hall. They didn’t find many residents that refused their evacuation order and when they were done in the Sunnyside area, the sun had rose hours before.

Soaked to the bone and cold, the firefighters bade each other goodbye and headed back to their stations.

* * *

In the center front seat of their borrowed rig, Kate shrugged out of her drenched coat and wrung out her braid. The water poured out of her hair and turned in her seat to watch the guys. Jeannot was shivering and Conly’s lips were blue. Macken had his hands tucked under his arms, into his armpits and Thibaut was rubbing his hands up and down his legs to coax some warmth into them.

Leaning over to where Cap sat in the shotgun seat, Kate whispered, “the guys are freezing, could we stop at Tim's for a donut and coffee? The guys look like they could use a pick-me-up.”

Cap turned to look at the disheveled crew and nodded, “I think that could be in order. Tell Tosh to change his route.” Kate relayed the news to the driver and Tosh took the exit from Deerfoot Trail onto the Trans-Canada instead of continuing straight to Station 43. Anderson was the first to realize that they were not heading back to 43 and asked where they were going.

Cap shrugged and said, “we’re taking a detour.” When they pulled the big rig into the small parking lot of the Tim Hortons on the Trans-Canada Highway, all the guys started whooping and hollering. Kate glared at them and they quieted before piling out of the truck like clowns out of a clown car. When her nose hit the fresh morning air, Kate was pleasantly surprised that the rain, while still falling from the sky, was not as heavy and more of a fine mist.

All ten firefighters headed towards the in door to the restaurant and when they opened the door, the warmth of the building greeted them. People turned to look and probably saw ten soaking firefighters that were shivering and all shades of blue. Cap ordered ten coffees and a dozen donuts before they sat down at some of the empty booths near the windows.

“This was a good idea LT,” Conly said, from where he was hunched over his cup of coffee, the warm steam curling up under his nose, but not longer shivering. The other guys shouted a indoor-voice thank you after Conly and Kate smiled. Sometimes she felt like a mother to these guys.

* * *

It was almost two days later that the rain finally ended and another day after that that the flood waters started receding. They were worked ragged and were dead on their feet. All crews were on call and subsequently on shift at all time for almost seventy two hours. But the commissioner pulled some strings and was able to find some floaters to staff the rigs to give everyone a twelve hour break.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was only eleven when the flood happened and I couldn't remember a whole lot about it. As much research as the internet could help me with provided me with this relatively lean chapter.


	11. Friends of Firefighters Barbecue

**August 2013**

“You'd better be coming to the barbecue,” Willis warned Kate one morning after their shift ended, “Rory is trying to pull together enough of us from 43 to partake in the tug of war.”

“I'll be there,” Kate replied, “when have I not gone?”

“You haven't gone since before you took the Lieutenant's exam.”

“It's been that long?” Kate asked herself. That would have been four years ago, when she was twenty two.

“Yah, and you stopped enjoying it after John died.” Willis wasn't wrong. She just always equated the casual drinking of beer and barbecuing hot dogs and hamburgers, kicking a soccer ball around and playing baseball to the days when John SeDyeor was alive. He would get hyped up months in advance and not stop talking about it long into the winter. The Annual Calgary Protective Services Barbecue was his favorite time of the year.

“Are you going to bring Kelly along?” Kate asked. Willis’s boyfriend, Kelly, had just returned home from three tours with the United States Army Rangers, and while he was one leg lighter, Kate bet he would enjoy the barbecue.

“Only if you bring Rodney,” Willis bargained.

“I'll see what I can do.” 

* * *

_The glorious smell of fresh cut grass and barbecue transported Kate back to 2007 and she was sitting at a picnic table, surrounded by her new coworkers. Hardiansyah sat across the table from her, taking a sip from a beer bottle. Roux and Alan were standing nearby throwing a football and SeDyeor was walking over to where they all sat, carrying three plates in either hand, stacked high with hot dogs and hamburgers, baked beans and chili._

_"Get some chow!" SeDyeor called, putting the paper plates on the table._

_"Thanks LT!" The crew had cheered._

“Kate are you okay?” Rodney asked and the illusion was gone.

“Yah,” she said, smiling weakly, “Let’s go see who’s here.” She saw Kyler first. He wore jeans and a faded Aerial 6 tee-shirt. Ania stood beside him in a floral sundress and Lilly was nowhere to be seen. When Kyler caught her eye, he gave her a nod, pretending to tip an imaginary hat at her.

“Who is this Kate?” Ania asked, motioning towards Rodney, who was wearing a skin tight running shirt and beige shorts. While his average dress resembled that of a teacher from the 90’s, the clothing also masked the whipcord of strength that Rodney carefully hid.

“This is Rodney Massey, we met back in February,” Kate said as Rodney shook Kyler’s hand, and then Ania’s. They walked over to the barbeque line where Kate noticed Cap standing behind a grill. Kyler and Kate both gave a nod, a recognition of the others presence before grabbing a plate and some food.

Easily identifiable by their A-6 or E-43 t-shirts, Kate, Kyler, Ania and Rodney made their way over to where most of their crew was seated around picnic tables. A group of police were also gathered around the table, and Kate assumed that these cops where co-workers of Kenny’s brother, Sergeant James Macken. There were many introductions to go through and after plowing through the group of firefighters, they were introduced to James’s crew.

Allie Loma, detective, former military, married to Doctor Matt McHolland, related to Clay Loma, professional soccer player, Team Canada.

Ives Baskivic, husband of James and expert handyman, Alberta Health Services EMT.

Terry Hickok, detective, two children, not married.

Frank Kendrick, detective, married to Leah, a child on the way.

Jayson Dalton, flying solo.

Kate had a hard time remembering them all. “Hey Kate,” someone called from behind her and she turned to see Oliver, Sarah, Adam and Bretton walking over. She received a hug from Adam and Oliver and introduced them to the group.

“Sorry to break up the reunion,” Rory said, standing on the bench piece of the picnic table.

"No you're not!" Someone shouted followed by Willis telling Rory to get his dumb ass off the table before he hurts himself.

“No,” Rory chuckled, “I am not sorry, because House 43, we have a tug of war to win.”

“Is that a challenge I hear?” One of James's coworkers shouted over the movement of the crew from 43. It was Jayson Dalton, Kate remembered.

“A box of donuts!” Kenny shouted and the bet was on.

“A box of donuts? How many?” Jayson asked.

“Two dozen! On your next day on shift,” Conly added. He had been in good spirits all day since Armack had not shown up.

“Deal,” James said, reaching out to shake Kate's hand, as she, aside from Cap, who was still cooking, was the highest ranking person from 43 present.

“Deal,” Kate said, shaking James hand.

Then they ran like giddy children towards the tug of war area, leaving their significant others behind. The line up was formed by Rory, who had been working on it for about three shifts, putting those with the most muscle on the front and back with the thinner people in the middle. So, the final line up was; Conly, Tartenhouser, Wade, Delitto, McEwan, Jeannot, Roux, Anderson, Cap, Macken. Tosh had decided not to participate and instead cheer them on. The crew from the 14th district seemed to have a slightly different plan. They put the strongest at the back and the weaker at the front. So their line up was; Dalton, Kendrick, Loma, Hickok, Macken, with some other cops Kate didn't know interspersed throughout the line accordingly. They picked up the rope and an older cop shouted, "3, 2, 1, go!"

* * *

 

The next day they were on shift, Kate noticed that there was two boxes of Tim Hortons donuts sitting on the kitchen table with a note on top. _Rematch next year?_


	12. Starless Night

**November 2013**

Kate leaned her head down on her arms at the kitchen table. The weariness was leaching into her bones and into her heart. The snow was falling thick and heavy and all she could think of was Kipper. Kipper, who, at the first snowfall of the year would run out onto the apron and smile at the sky, arms thrown out to the sides with the biggest grin on his face. Snow was falling thick now and all Kate could think of was winter of 2005. It was a cold winter and a brutal one. It was an amazing first few months in terms of the things that she, as a probie, learned. Not so great for the people involved. Kate reckoned they lost more people than they saved that winter, but it was her probie year. Everything was a learning experience that year and the shine of her probationary helmet made her invincible. Then John died and the world lost a little bit of color and all of its shine.

But Kipper made it better, he always did. With a little flash of that smile, a hug, soft mutterings into her hair and the world got a little shine back. It never stayed long, though and the next accident wiped it away. She wasn’t burnt out, that Kate knew for sure. Having seen burnt out co-workers before, she knew what to look for. Lack of commitment, ducking, lack of skills. This wasn’t it. She was just bitter. Mad at the world. How come John and Kipper died and others didn’t?  She was just mad and the only way to make the world gain some of its lustre back was to forget that so many good people had died when so many bad people were still out there.

"Engine 43, Aerial 6, Ambulance 2378, vehicle accident, Crowchild Trail North at Deerfoot Trail." Clearing her thoughts and jumping from her seat, Kate ran to the rig deck where she met with the rest of the guys, some still mostly asleep and moving on instinct rather than on purpose. The sky was dark, but cloudless as they pulled out into the frozen night.


	13. We are not at work anymore

**Christmas 2013**

Kate looked in the mirror and adjusted her uniform. It was going to be the first time in too long since she had attended the CFD Christmas ball. She had dusted off her uniform and reluctantly put it on. She knew all of her coworkers would be wearing theirs, but this uniform just reminded her of seven years ago when John died and now Kipper was added to the list of memories.

It was lightly snowing when Kate drove up to Firehouse One in downtown. The parking lot was packed, but Kate found a spot. She hopped that Rodney did too. Inside the massive hall, all five rigs were decorated in garland and lights, though nothing was between them and the outside, lest they get a call. Kate greeted people she knew along her way to the common room, where she told Rodney they would meet.

She spied his coffee colored hair standing next to another person in formal dress. Approaching, she recognized the man as Kenny, his short dark brown hair giving it away under the bell cap. Not too far away she could see James and Ives, sharing a moment, as it looked like. The bigger man had an arm over the smaller man’s shoulders and Ives had almost burrowed himself into the nook James’s extremity had created.

“Lieutenant,” Kenny said, addressing her.

Kate replied, “We’re not at work, it's Kate.”

Kenny made a funny face, complete with a scrunched up nose and said, “That, I will never be able to get used to.” Turning to face Rodney, she could see Kenny drift off into the crowd in her peripherals.

“Well you look great in uniform, if I had any doubts before,” Rodney said, adjusting the jacket he wore. Kate suspected the black jacket was part of a suit combo and the pants were probably the other portion. But without a tie it looked just the right amount of casual.

It made Kate itch to loosen her out navy blue tie just a little, but refrained and instead joked, “I thought you only owned those knit sweaters you wear over everything.”

“Dylan dressed me and I have to say, I think he did a good job,” Rodney replied and Kate would have to agree.

“LT!” Kate heard someone call and she automatically turned, knowing exactly who called her name.

“Merry Christmas Ricky,” Kate said and didn’t bother to correct the now-twenty year old of her title. It was Christmas and if Conly wanted to call her LT, he could have attar.

“Is someone here with you?”

“No, I’m on my own,” Ricky said, almost with a little sadness in his voice before saying way more cheerfully, “No date for the one and only Richard Bayfew-Conly this year.”

Kate couldn’t help but laugh at his exuberance and continued by asking, “Do you remember Rodney from the barbeque?”

“The teacher dude? Oh yeah,” then turning to Rodney and shaking his hand, “It's nice to see you again man, the other guys said that LT hasn’t dated in a long time.”

“So I’ve heard,” Rodney said before Kate interrupted with a squeak, “who said that?”

“I am not giving away my incredibly reliable sources,” he replied and Kate resisted the urge to chuff him on the arm.

“I’d bet it was Thibaut,” Ricky said before slinking off into the crowd. It was then that Rodney burst out laughing.

“That is the candidate? He’s awesome,” Rodney said, his chuckles dying down, “maybe I’ll give you Dylan’s number and you can set the two of them up.”

“No. I’m not playing matchmaker,” Kate retorted, though seriously considering actually taking him up on the offer. Ricky needed a boyfriend, or at least to get laid.

* * *

After supper, they headed out onto the apron to get away from the crowds a little. “You look very nice Kate,” Rodney said, turning towards her slightly, their hands still joined between them. The falling snow started collecting on the brim of her white bell cap and the lights, though faded, still cast a glow in the night sky.

Kate turned to face him and said, “I’m glad you could come.”

* * *

Kate woke in a start and slowly tried to remember where she was.

Not at her apartment, but in a bed. Check.

Alone? Nope.

Spooned against her back, an arm draped over her hip, was her brown haired teacher. He was still asleep, as far as Kate could tell, so she settled back against his pillow and waited for warning bells to go off in her head. After waiting for minutes to the preverbal alarm to go off, Kate calmed down. Sometime later, Rodney stirred and then tensed. She looked over her shoulder, into his brown eyes, sleepy and unfocused.

“Merry Christmas,” she whispered.

“Merry Christmas to you to,” Rodney replied with a large smile.

“What time is it?” Kate muttered.

“Uh,” Rodney paused, rolling over to look at the clock on the stand on the other side of the bed, “6:45.”

“I have to be at work by 8:00 am,” Kate answered, “and it'll take me about a half hour to get home and grab my duty uniform before heading to the hall.” Kate always covered the Christmas day shift, even if it wasn't the day her platoon was working, she had no kids, no major commitments and her family always celebrated on boxing day anyways. This Christmas, platoon B was on shift, but someone would be filling in for Tosh.

“So that gives us what? Another half hour?” Rodney asked before leaning over and kissing Kate.

* * *

Kate glared at her reflection in the mirror of the bathroom at 43. She had had a great night with Rodney, but she had not considered the fact that she was working the next day and owned no makeup. Not that she would know what to do with the makeup even if she did own any. Thankfully, however, Kate did own a turtleneck that would cover up any “bruises” on her neck. It was a dark shade of grey, so it wouldn't be out of place with her uniform and according to the thermostat on A-6, it was -25° Celsius, so she could claim the cold was the reason for the turtleneck.

She smiled and looked at her reflection.

All she saw was the eighteen year old probationary firefighter staring back. Eight years Kate had worked at Station 43. She's almost couldn't believe it.

“Well look at this,” Willis said from behind her. Kate hadn't even heard the door to the co-ed bathroom open. “Kate Delitto wearing a turtleneck. I wonder why?”

“Probably no different of a reason than you wandering into work this morning in your dress uniform,” Kate replied. At least she had made it back to her apartment this morning.

“Hilarious,” Willis replied dully, “but roll up the collar a little more, I think I can see some marks still.” Kate put both her hands to the sides of her neck and rolled the thick fabric up a little higher.

"Engine 43, Ambulance 2378, person trapped 9919 Fairmount Drive NE."  Kate saluted Willis before the EMT ran out to the rig deck. Making her way back into the kitchen, Kate noticed out the window, that Armack’s truck was in the parking lot. She closed her eyes and wished it was a bad dream. At least you could wake up from a dream, this nightmare was one that would last for the next twelve hours.


	14. New Years

**New Years 2014**

“Guys, it's almost 2014!” Conly announced, entering the bunkroom. No one was really sleeping. Macken was laying down, Roux was reading, Tosh was on the phone and Armack was probably sitting in the common room watching the television. Kate was in her office filling out forms and for the first time looked up to check the time. It was 11:55 pm. The last five minutes of 2013. She put the cap back on her pen and stood, following the rest of the crew out onto the rig deck. Conly had turned on the Christmas lights, but other than that the rig deck was dark. The two strands of Christmas lights that ran down either side of the apron were also on and Kate saw that Tosh and Jeannot had pulled A-6 and E-43 out. Andra climbed into AHS-2378 and drove it on the the apron next to the other rigs. Kate noticed that Cap and Armack were now standing on the apron.

“10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5 ,4, 3, 2, 1,” the whole crew chanted in unison and on “one” both Tosh and Andra lit the gumballs and sirens.

“2014!!!!” The crew cheered. They left the sirens on for about a minute and one semi truck driving by on Deerfoot flashed its lights and tooted its horn. 2013 was officially over.

* * *

“Hey Kate,” Kate heard Adam greet her over the phone. She had just gotten home after working twelve hours over December 31-January 1. “So, tonight with Mom’s New Year's gathering, I decided I would invite Bretton to come with me, and you should bring Rodney.”

“I’ll phone him, see if he has any plans,” Kate answered. She knew that Rodney was in Calgary for the break, but she didn’t know if any family had come over.

“See you tonight,” Adam said before hanging up. Kate was glad she had switched a shift this coming night, as she was really looking forward to some time with her family, even if it meant pulling twenty four hours in a row for the next shift. She phoned Rodney right away and he agreed to come to the gathering.

* * *

Kate saw Rodney's green Jeep parked across the street from her parents house. She could also see that he was still sitting in the vehicle. He turned it off and climbed out and met her as she walked up to the house. It was cold outside and snowing lightly. Kate was starting to feel the exhaustion of the previous night, but pushed it out of her mind as she pushed open the door to her parents house.

“Nice place,” Rodney muttered and Kate figured that she knew what he was thinking. Jealousy of some sort. He was an only child but his parents never had enough time for him. Kate was always surrounded by family and now, they were all crammed into the same place. Mom, Dad, Grandpa Giorgio, Oll, Sarah, Hayley, Reese, Nolan, Adam, Bretton, and a gathering of other people Kate only saw once in a blue moon and only remembered who they were only after introductions. Rodney would have known only as many people as could be counted on one hand and looked around nervously.

“Are you okay?” Kate asked, hoping he was not too overwhelmed.

“Fine,” he answered stiffly. Kate grabbed his hand and led him through the throngs of people until they emerged in the kitchen. Her mother was pulling something sweet out of the oven when she noticed them.

“Kate, Rodney, come sample some of this pudding,” her mother offered and Kate practically dragged Rodney from where he seemed nailed to the floor over to her mother. The pudding was delicious as usual and Kate said, “Mom, do you remember that I told you that Rodney is a teacher?”

“Yes dear,” she replied putting down the spatula that she was holding and set her hands firmly on her hips.

“What do you think of the curriculum these days young man?” Kate smiled and gave Rodney a little kiss on the cheek before heading off to greet her relatives. Rodney would do fine.

“Hey guys,” Kate said, greeting Adam and Bretton. They stood off to the side of the scrutinizing gaze of all of their relatives. While Kate could see Bretton putting on a brave face for Adam, they were holding hands tight enough to turn each others skin white. Neither looked comfortable. Bretton had brushed his festive green hair back and tied it at the back of his head and wore a black sport coat and grey skinny jeans. More conservative than what he usually wore, but Kate knew their parents were silently judging every movement Bretton made.

“Hey sis,” Adam said in reply and released the grasp he had on his boyfriend to give her a hug, “Did you have an okay shift?”

“Good enough,” she replied before turning to Bretton and giving him a hug as well. Adam looked really uncomfortable without the reassurance of Brettons touch. Kate released Bretton and looked back at her younger brother. His skin was pale underneath the royal blue turtleneck and she wished there was some kind of reassurance she could provide to him, but there was nothing she could have said to make anything better.

Footfalls from behind Kate alerted her to the arrival of her niece and nephews. As they barreled through the kitchen and livingroom, Kate turned to face the noise.

“Aunt Kate!” Reese shrieked followed by a similar greeting by Nolan and Hayley. All three children ran up to her and she scooped Reese up and raised him above her head, muscles protesting the strain from the last shift. Reese giggled and laughed as Nolan jumped up and down around her ankles. Setting Reese down, she picked up Nolan and gave him a similar high flying hug. Hayley settled for a “big girl hug” because being hoisted above her aunt’s head was too “childish” for a ten year old. Reese and Nolan equally dispersed from Kate to “Uncle Adam and Uncle Bretton” with more shrieks of excitement.

Some of the elder folk standing or sitting in the living room glared in their direction. Kate was sure Bretton noticed the ill-intended gazes, but thankfully Adam was too occupied in tickling Nolan that he missed the glares.

“Hey guys,” a voice said from behind her. Turning once more she was embraced in a hug by Rodney. Leaning into the nape of her neck, he whispered, “there are so many people here.”

“Welcome to the Delitto family,” Kate said.

“Aunty Kate, Aunty Kate,” Reese chanted, jumping up and down near her legs.

Scooping him up and resting him on her knee, Kate replied, “Yes Mister Reese?” “Who is that?” he asked, suddenly getting shy and turning away from Rodney.

“This is my boyfriend Rodney.”

“It's nice to meet you,” Hayley said, moving from her spot beside Bretton to extend her hand to Rodney, “my name is Hayley.”

“Are you going to tell him your name?” Kate asked Reese who had slowly turned to face the blond haired man after seeing his sister greet him.

“I’m Reese Harris-Delitto,” he announced before squirming in Kate’s arms. She put him down and watched as he walked over to Adam.

“This is my brother Nolan,” Reese said, pointing to the identical six year old boy Adam held. Rodney chuckled and knelt down on the floor in front of Reese.

“How old are you Reese?” Rodney asked.

“Six!” Reese shouted in reply and subsequently held up seven fingers.

“Almost,” Rodney said before gently extending a hand and curling down the extra finger on Reese’s left hand, “Now you’re six.”

Kate’s heart almost cracked in two. The scene was so adorable and yet the hole in her chest that the lack of her own baby left ached. Turning away, Kate left the living room and walked up the half flight of stairs to her childhood bedroom. Flopping down on the twin sized bed, Kate closed her eyes and willed the tears away. She wanted kids. She wanted to see Rodney teach them things, gently correct them. She wanted to be the insane parent running behind a bike without training wheels, yelling at her child to watch out for the parked car. But those dreams were packing away in a box in the far reaches of her brain. After the baby incident, she had applied for the position of Lieutenant. She had taken all the courses, all the trainings, aced all the tests, but now she realized that that busy work had been to forget what could never be.


	15. NOT FINISHED

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> FINISH

THIS CHAPTER IS NOT YET FINISHED, HOWEVER IT IS NOT CRUCIAL TO THE STORY. COME CHECK BACK LATER, THIS IS SIMPLY A PLACE HOLDER.


	16. Lieutenant Delitto

**July 2014**

Kate had her head in the SCBA storage compartment on the side of A-6 one morning. E-43 was out at a scene, so Kate figured it would be good to get some cleaning done. She was checking the oxygen levels and making sure the gauges were working when Roux came onto the rig deck.

“Hey, Delitto, there’s some visitors here.” Kate turned around and noticed that Roux looked unusually frazzled. “Its some white shirts,” he said quieter. A ‘white shirt’ is the slang term for anyone above the position of Captain in the Calgary Fire Department chain of command. A Chief, the Commissioner, or other high ranking officials wore white shirts on a regular basis instead of the typical navy blue. Kate quickly put the SCBA contraption back onto its hanger in the rig and followed Roux to the common room. Armack was standing behind the coffee maker, looking every bit as ruffled as usual and Kate secretly hoped that the three men standing in the middle of the room noticed and did something. She was glad that Platoon A had reorganized the kitchen during the last shift, and everything looked rather shiny. Conly, Macken and Kyler had turned off the television and were sitting as straight as they could on the couch. Kate approached the men to introduce herself and hopped that Armack had at least had the presence of mind to do the same. “Secondary Lieutenant, Kate Delitto,” she said and shook the first man’s hand.

“Assistant Deputy Chief of Fire Rescue, Brian McAsey,” he replied, “and this is Chief Bradley Wallace.” Kate shook all their hands and wondered why they were here. She could only speculate the intentions of these officials.

For the rest of shift, the two men followed them around and just were generally in their presence for twelve hours. Towards the end, they went outside and spoke quietly with each other, heads put together in an intense conversation.

* * *

The next time Kate was on shift, she was summoned to Cap’s office. Once again, Deputy McAsey and Chief Wallace were in the office with Cap. “Lieutenant,” Chief McAsey said, turning in her direction.

“Congratulations Delitto,” Cap said extending a hand towards her, the palm facing the roof with two fabric patches in the cup that had been created. “You can sew on your bugles. Armack’s done.” Kate breathed out a rather large breath of air that she didn't know she was holding. Lead lieutenant on A-6. Her bugles, the sign of a lead lieutenant now rested in her hand. Armack was done. Fired, forced retirement, at this point, Kate did not care. "Go find the crew. Meeting in the boardroom in ten minutes.”

“Thank you Chief, Assistant Deputy,” Kate said, respectfully nodding her head in the direction of both men before leaving the office. She managed to gather everyone and within her time limit, all eleven crew members had found a chair in the meeting room. Built for a bigger fire hall with double the rigs, there were also double the meeting rooms, most of which sat empty. At exactly nine o'clock, Cap and Assistant Deputy McAsey entered the meeting room. Some people sat in chairs, on tables or stood at the back of the room.

“I would like to introduce,” Cap said, “Assistant Deputy Brian McAsey and Chief Bradley Wallace.”

“Thank you Captain,” Deputy McAsey said, “I would also like to draw to your attention of a new staffing change on Aerial 6. Lieutenant Douglas Armack has been removed from the Calgary Fire Department and stripped of his rank.” About a dozen jaws dropped and the meeting room went silent. “It had been brought to our attention in late May of the increasing amount of absences Armack has had as well as three criminal offences. From now on, Lieutenant Katherine Delitto will be leading Aerial 6.” Someone at the back of the room began clapping and the rest of the room joined in.

* * *

When the white shirt officials left the hall at about 6:30 that night, Cap dismissed the crew and sent them on their ways. It was warm out and the sun had not yet set so Kate rolled up the sleeves of her navy blue shirt and headed out onto the apron. The cars on Deerfoot whizzed past and Kate just folded her arms and stared at the fast moving vehicles. It was meditative and Kate felt her mind blank and start to wander. She thought about everything and nothing. So she was startled when her phone started ringing. The caller display of the device read Adam Delitto and she accepted the call. Putting the rather flat phone against her ear she was almost deafened by her little brother shouting, “Bretton just proposed!” He sounded a little nasal and definitely on a little of an adrenaline high so Kate just let him talk.

“He came to pick me up from the University and we drove to our old school. I was so confused and he wouldn’t tell me what was happening and then we parked and he got out of the driver's seat and came around to my door and proposed right there on the sidewalk!”

“Wow, Adam, congrats,” Kate replied when Adam stopped talking long enough for her to get a word in edgewise. She could hear him panting, trying to catch his breath from his excitement. Over the phone, an awful shuffling and scratching noise preceded before Bretton’s voice came over the line.

“Hey Kate,” he said.

“Congrats Bretton, it only took you fourteen months,” she joked before continuing, “but seriously, amazing. You guys are so great together.”

* * *

“Watermelon tastes so much better eaten outside,” Jeannot announced one afternoon as they sat off the side of the rig deck eating slivers of the juicy pink fruit.

“I would like to do a study on that,” Macken said right before he took a big bite. Just then, out of Tartenhouser’s mouth flew a stream of black seeds from the watermelon.

“That’s the best you can do?” Wade asked, almost as if to challenge him to a competition. Wade stood up from his spot in the grass and let a mouthful of seeds fly out. And soon it was on. After every mouthful, someone would try to best the previous person’s distance.

"Engine 43, Aerial 6, Rescue 18, Ambulance 2378, entrapment, Canadian Pacific Alyth Rail Yards at Blackfoot Trail."

“Alyth railyards?” Tartenhouser said as they hopped up from where they sat and ran towards the rigs. The Alyth Yards were the biggest Canadian Pacific Rail Yards in Western Canada and is the home terminal to trains heading north to Red Deer, east towards Regina, or further west towards Vancouver. As the rigs drove down Deerfoot and Conly poked Kate from around her seat and said, “LT, how do you rescue a train?” Kate chuckled.

Tosh slightly turned around and said, “Probie, you know, when they send a Rescue rig to a call, you are there for an assist.” All the guys started laughing and Kate added,

“We just raise the aerial and use it so that the other guys have something sturdy to attach their life-lines to.” Conly nodded from his place in the back seat and turned back around and settled in his jump seat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just an FYI, this is one of the only two chapters that actually reference a real human being. It was the Assistant Deputy Chief of Fire Rescue, Brian McAsey.


	17. Compressed gas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for major character injury

**August 20 2014**

It was in 1:18 in the morning and the whole crew was asleep in the bunk room when the dispatch tones dropped, "Engine 43, Aerial 6, Ambulance 2378, three alarm house fire. 2626 Country Hills Blvd NE."

Out of their beds everyone jumped and ran to the rig deck. They pulled off their shoes and jumped into their turnout gear. They each grabbed an SCBA contraption while they closed the doors on the sides of the rigs. Tosh switched on the sirens and lights as they pulled out onto the apron before proceeding to drive as fast as he dared through the silent streets of Country Hills.

They wove their way through the very light traffic and made excellent time to the neighbourhood. E-43 beat them to the scene by seconds. Flames shot out of the windows and Kate could hear the sounds of glass shattering due to the heat. In the sticky night, the fire clouded the clear sky and turned it to a soft orange. Approaching Cap and Wade, Kate could hear a neighbour telling them that it was an old house that was rented out. Apparently the renters were not reliable and police were at the house due to various reasons about twice a week.

“Ma'am, how many people are living here?” Macken asked.

“Legally? Six. There's always more.” she was then thanked for her help and led to the Ambulance. The building was too weak for crews to start dousing the fire, or else it would probably collapse.

“Delitto,” Cap said, “you, Tosh and Macken go through the front, work your way up. Wade, take de Santis and Jeannot and search the basement.”

"Grab air, we're going in," Kate said to Tosh and Macken, peeling off her helmet. She pulled the fire retardant slip over her head, then pulled on the mask.

Entering through the front door, the two truck companies split off and A-6 headed through the front foyer, keeping low to the ground and periodically shouting, “CALGARY FIRE DEPARTMENT, CALL OUT.”

“There’s one!” Tosh shouted before breaking formation and moving towards a lifeless form near a couch. Thankfully, there was no fire on this floor, it was just really thick with smoke. As Tosh brought the victim outside to an awaiting ambulance, Macken and Delitto headed up the stairs to the second floor. There was burning debris here and there and Kate noticed her gas monitor that was sewn onto the exterior of her turnout jacket had started making beeping noises. It wasn’t a high-pitched wail yet, but it meant there was a potentially dangerous amount of toxic gas in the air.

“Cap,” Kate said into her radio, “My gas monitor is indicating there is some potentially toxic substance in the air.”

“I’ll get someone to bring a Dehavlin into the scene and get a measurement,” Cap radioed back. At least a Dehavlin would get a better breakdown of the different types of gases. Once Tosh rejoined them on the second floor, they swept towards the front of the house, staying low, under the smoke and fire that rippled across the ceiling.

“Clear!” Macken called once they gathered at the stairs up to the third floor. Sounding off their positions, Kate led Macken and Tosh up the stairs, only to have their progress halted by an explosion. The stairs crumbled under Tosh’s feet and Macken grabbed his sleeve, hoisting the other man onto the solid ground. The third floor was almost entirely engulfed in flames. The stairs were gone, and they had no way out. They rushed towards one of the back windows, three senior firefighters sharing one thought, one brain. Macken busted the glass with the halligan while Kate radioed to the crew outside.

"Mayday! Mayday! All crews trapped on the third floor, southwest corner. The windows are broken, requesting A-6 aerial at location."

"Affirmative Lieutenant," someone who Kate assumed was either Conly, or someone from E-43 said. Sticking her head out the window, Kate saw A-6 drive over. Roux hopped out of the driver's seat and ran around back to the aerial. It slowly raised and Macken started climbing down the aerial backwards.

“Lieutenant!” Tosh called from behind her and she turned around. He was looking down into a hole that was now punched through the floor. As she made her way over he pointed at something. Peering carefully into the gaping hole, Kate saw canisters stacked on wooden pallets. No one had been able to see them on the way up because of the smoke, but she could see them clear as day now. And the flames were spreading, carried by paper and cardboard.

"Hey, is there storage of something in this building? Something flammable maybe?" Kate radioed, finding it difficult to keep the sense of urgency out of her voice.

"Not as far as records show," someone said over the radio. Suddenly, Tosh tackled her backwards. Surprised, she looked over her shoulder and saw a burst of flame shoot through the hole. The floor creaked and started collapsing. Unable to get a foothold on the linoleum floor, Kate started sliding towards the hole. She screamed and Tosh grabbed her arm. It slowed her backwards slide, but did not stop her and now, Tosh was sliding too.

The wood roof above them groaned and a wood plant fell, landing hard on Tosh’s wrist. His grip failed and she was falling, sliding down the floor, it collapsed under her weight and plummeted her to the ground. The impact knocked Kate unconscious and her PASS alarm went off 18 seconds later.

* * *

Kyler ripped off his helmet and SCBA. He unbuttoned his turnout gear and turned towards the front of A-6 as Ambulance 2378 pulled away. He said a silent prayer for Kate. Kyler looked back towards the door they had carried Kate's limp body out of. Guilt gnawed at him. If he had just left the hole alone and headed down the aerial, Kate would get to go home tonight.

"Kyler, your arm okay?" Conly asked, walking over to where Kyler stood. He looked down at his arm and saw that the sleeve of his turnout coat was burnt and charred, yet he hadn't even noticed.

* * *

Kate was not sure if she ever fully regained consciousness in the back of the Ambulance. But soon, she was overwhelmed by a barrage of amazing dreams. Immaculate colors and shapes danced in front of her eyes. It seemed like the most amazing thing she had ever seen. Through the never ending, timeless haze, she could hear someone speaking, saying her name. The voice told her to open her eyes, so she tried, really tried. But nothing happened and the colors went away, replaced by darkness. The darkness was comforting, welcoming. Kate decided to follow it, just to leave her body behind.

* * *

He slammed his hand against the metal plating of A-6.

 _I_ _t's my fault, it's all my fault_. Kyler stared blankly at the red aluminum.

 _What happened?_ It was the only question he had left. Once again, Kyler replayed the memories in his head in one last desperate attempt to determine what went wrong.

* * *

It was cozy. Nice and warm. Then it hit her, like someone stabbing her in between her shoulder blades with a knife. The pain rushed through her veins and she tried to shrink away before being enveloped in darkness.

* * *

Kyler sat on the hospital bed in the emergency room. Nurses had bandaged his arm, assuring him that, at worst the damage was just to the tissue. There would be scarring, but it would fade with age. He had phoned Ania, making sure that she was okay and reminding her to call if she needed anything. Having a nine-month pregnant wife was stressful as it was, then not being able to get to her on a moments notice also was driving him crazy. Kyler wondered how Rodney was holding up and said a prayer.

* * *

She had a endotracheal tube in her mouth, that was the first thing Rodney noticed when he entered Kate's room. The ends of her hair was burnt, charred and tied up into a crude approximation of a pony-tail that Rodney knew she would not be impressed with. Kate was rested on her back with her head propped up slightly. Her eyes were closed and her face looked pained. Or maybe, Rodney decided, she looked upset. He knew she would be in extreme pain when she woke, something he could not fathom, and had no frame of reference of. The pale blue blanket rested just above her hips and the hospital gown fit her crudely. Under the gown, he could see the bandages, wrapped around her chest and back with monitors snaking in and out, connected to machines behind her head.

The doctors had just moved her into the room and were finishing setting up the equipment. Rodney couldn't help but wonder what it was like to have a machine controlling your lungs. He slowly sat down in the plastic chair next to her bed.

* * *

Adam had been stressing about any number of things for the past few days so, in an attempt to alleviate some of his sleep preventing troubles, Bretton had drove down to sit with his future sister in law and give Rodney a break. Bretton knew that Rodney probably hadn't yet left her side and was staying fed with whatever he was brought. Picking up a Subway sandwich on his drive down, he thought about how he would feel if Adam, the most important person in his life, was hurt as badly as Kate seemed to be.

Even though high-school was seven years ago and he was hospitalized eight years ago, it seemed like yesterday. He had only wanted to give Adam a little kiss before parting ways after lunch, but he was careless and kissed his boyfriend in a much too public setting. And was awarded a shattered clavicle, which still hurt like the devil some mornings and a minor concussion. Adam only received nine stitches, but he would have never forgiven himself if Adam had been in his position.

Foothills Hospital had not changed at all since the last time he had set foot in it. Following Adam's instructions, laid out for him this morning when he mentioned visiting Kate, Bretton found himself in an elevator.

Comfortable in his own skin, the skinny jeans and purple Mohawk he currently supported, Bretton managed to avoid too many judgemental stares on his way to the ICU. T

he last time he was in the ICU he was seventeen and the similar chill hung in the air. He almost turned around and left. You're doing this for Adam and Rodney, he reminded himself and stepped out of the elevator.

* * *

It had been two days. Rodney once again jerked awake from his Virgil beside his girlfriend's hospital bed. She hadn't moved as far as he could tell, though there wasn't much to move. At the neck, she was braced with a collar and her spine was immobilized. She was sedated and on morphine and a machine was breathing for her.

But the surgeries were done. The first one, the day of the accident, was to seal and start the healing process of the damaged vessels in her back. The second one, fourteen hours later, was to attempt tissue repair. It seemed successful, the doctors had reported, however with the amount of trauma that her spine had taken during the fall, immobilization was crucial.

* * *

Kate opened her eyes and immediately regretted it. Gone was the weird lightness and pain, white, hot, blinding pain replaced it. It would just be so much easier to give up. She tried to shift, and found that any command she tried to provide to her body was not followed through.

But there was something in her throat.

That had to go.

Knowing that her body wouldn’t move, Kate instead tried to cough, vomit, something, but instead all that happened was that she managed to knock a monitor free. Suddenly, along with the almost overwhelming pain, an awful screeching noise began. People in white lab coats surrounded her, but they all looked the same.

She was confused, angry and wanted to get out. Kate knew she was trapped, that her body wouldn’t move, but she decided if she couldn’t move, she could still verbally protest the people around her.

So, in her native tongue, because currently, no commands were being received in English, Kate started yelling in Italian. But then the people all around her started multiplying before she fell back into the peaceful darkness.

* * *

When they removed the endotracheal tube after Kate’s past incident she started muttering. Generally it was entirely in Italian, though it was not clear nor sensical enough for Rodney to understand. Occasionally it was English with Italian interspersed. At least they knew that she could still be able to have basic vocal skills and her lungs were recovering quickly.

* * *

Kate's eyes flew open. Her brain felt like it had been hit by a bolt of lightning. Her limbs felt connected, but fuzzy, like she was wrapped up in a wool coat from the inside out. Kate searched the scrambled fragments of memories, trying to determine where she was.

The last thing she could remember was grabbing the collar of her turnout gear and trying to pull it over her head.

A man with brown hair appeared in her field of vision. He wore a white lab coat and was smiling at her.

The man introduced himself, "Hello Kate," he said, "My name is Doctor Geoffrey Lampard, and you are at Foothills Hospital." Dr. Lampard held one of his fingers in front of her face.

"Follow my finger Kate," he said and she did, she really tried, though it was just so difficult to move her eyes as fast as his finger seemed to be moving. He then held his hands in front of her.

"Can you grab my thumbs?" he asked. She felt them in her hand, flesh and blood as she curled her fingers around his.

Then he said, "Can you squeeze them as hard as you can?" Kate tried as hard as she could, but somewhere between her ears and her hands, the message stopped and no movement occurred. She watched the doctor turn, then give a smile at someone just out of her field of vision.

He moved and Kate tried to follow him with her eyes. Dr. Lampard stood at the foot of her bed and put his hands against the soles of her feet.

"Can you point your toes?" She felt it, she really felt his hands, but once again, she wasn't sure if she had moved.

"Good job Kate,” the doctor said, "Are you in pain?" Kate grunted her answer into the clear plastic oxygen mask covering her mouth and nose.

"On a scale from one to ten, can you show me with your fingers how much it hurts?" Kate slowly uncurled her fingers to show a 8. The doctor nodded and turned and adjusted something attached to the wall behind her head.

"There," he said, "This should help," he turned and motioned to someone behind him, "I believe you have a visitor."

Then Rodney entered her view and she almost cried in joy. "Hello love," Rodney said as the doctor patted his back and walked out of the room.

"Rodney," Kate tried to say, though it came out like a grunt to her ears.

"Don't try to talk," he said, “You're safe now.” He had a beard covering a considerable portion of his face and there were dark black circles around the hazel of his eyes. That was the last thing she remembered before darkness consumed her, dumping her back into the abyss she no longer craved.

* * *

_When the human body experiences an irregularity in the normal functions, the brain will attempt to regulate it. Generally occurring in the form of vomiting and/or a seizure._

Kyler knew what to expect. He figured it was only a matter of time before a seizure wracked his friends body, but not while he was there.

She was asleep when he arrived. Kyler had sent Rodney down to the cafeteria with Ania and Lilly to force him to eat. Sitting down in the second chair, not currently occupied by Rodney's book and jacket, he just started talking to Kate.

_In the case of an altered level of consciousness, the last sense to be inactive is hearing and is the first sense to be regained._

“Conly is doing well. He fixed the leaky toilet in the bunkroom. He is applying for permanent placement at 43, since his probationary period is almost over. Thibaut is acting lieutenant, but is hating the paperwork.”

Then it happened. Her entire body went rigid and started quivering. Not violently, just with enough force for the episode to be recognizable. Jumping up from his chair, Kyler ran to the door and called for a doctor. His biggest worry was her back. If it was injured as badly as the immobilization to it suggested, Kyler was not about ready to have her worsen the condition with a seizure.

A middle aged man in burgundy scrubs came running. Into her IV line was pushed a substantial amount of Levaquin. He watched the clear fluid move into her arm and then, only seconds later, Kate stopped seizing. The doctor replaced the oxygen mask over her mouth and nose, recorded something on her charts and left.

* * *

It felt like the fire had consumed her. Not pushed into reality, Kate had to fight awake. Her head seemed clouded and it was as warm as a dumpster fire in the summer.

No one was around, or if they were, she couldn't see them. Her vision was blurring in and out and she felt her head pounding. Then, Kate figured, there was no point in being awake. So she closed her eyes and fell into the abyss.

* * *

When Hayley had first gotten a fever, Oliver was terrified. Hayley was only four months old at the time. She was a baby. Babies are fragile. But now, his little sister, the strongest in their family by far, had a raging fever. That was more scary than Hayley getting sick.

Kate never was sick. Never caught colds and now, she fell two storeys in a burning building, had multiple surgeries, had a seizure and now was burning from the inside out.

It was just cruel, Oliver thought, pulling off his glasses and rubbing his eyes. Kate had ran away with nothing but the money she had gathered and her beat up car, to pursue the career she wanted, not the one their parents wanted for her. She was the only female at the training center. Her mentor died, her new boss was an ass, her old boyfriend died, she was promoted. Only to fall two storeys.

* * *

An obnoxious brightness woke her. Instinctively trying to turn her head to see it, Kate found she couldn't.

“Perche?” _Why_ , she tried to say, her semi-lucid brain lapsing into her mother tongue. It was as if asking such a simple question could fix the issue. A lady closely resembling herself, just with grey hairs streaking her ponytail and lines carved deep into her forehead leaned over her. A gentle smile crossed her mother's face as she kissed her daughter's forehead.

“Momma?” Kate croaked and noted that the sound seemed to be trapped. Oxygen mask something in the deep, dark corners of her brain told her.

“Si Katie,” her mother said, “La mia.” _Yes Katie, its me_. She appeared to be on the verge of tears as she stroked her hand across Kate's shoulder.

“Adam?” Kate asked, hoping that her little brother was around.

“It's 12:30, Adam è a scuola,” _Adam is at school_ , her mother answered simply, “Ma Rodney è qui, non ha mai lasciato la tua parte.” _Rodney is here, he's never left your side_.

“Rodney,” Kate muttered, picturing the man she now lived with. Smiling, she closed her eyes and was once again consumed by darkness.

* * *

“As similar to many of her other symptoms, the seizure was just her body's way of resetting itself,” Dr. Lampard said, holding out the CT scan taken of Kate's head. Today, it was Luca Delitto, Kate's father's, turn to force Rodney to eat and leave the hospital for a short walk.

Luca took the CT scan in his hands and skeptically observed them. While he was not a doctor, both sides of the brain looked the same and there was no large black sections.

“However now, our chief concern is paralysis. While no x-rays indicate such condition, it is a likely possibility,” Dr. Lampard announced

“But if there spinal column is intact, how could she be paralyzed?” Rodney sputtered.

“Numerous reasons, including the heat from the fire damaging the vessels beyond repair. Which, you cannot see on a x-ray, or shock, the body simply forgetting the legs exist,” Dr. Lampard replied calmly.

Nodding his thanks to the doctor, Luca dragged Rodney out of the hospital. They sat on one of the benches and Luca watched as the stress seemed to flow out of his daughter's, boyfriend's shoulders.

“I'm scared,” Rodney said, though not necessarily directed to Luca.

“Me too, but we need to stay strong for Kate. The hardest part of the recovery process hasn't yet begun,” Luca replied. He regretted how he had treated his daughter during the first few years she was out of high-school. Only after she broke her wrist and fractured her ankle, and didn't quit, that he and Mary realized their daughter was serious. Then they started being more supportive.

“But what if she never gets back to the CFD? Kate would never forgive herself. She would be so depressed.”

“Son,” Luca said, mustering up his remaining courage and sitting on his fears, “I picked up the phone, the day her lieutenant was killed. She was at Rockyview Hospital with a broken wrist and fractured ankle. We hadn't heard from Kate in over two years. We had no idea what had happened to her. Then a CFD Captain phones and tells us the news. She had been back in Calgary for six months, no word.”

“She never told me that part of the story,” Rodney muttered.

“Her brothers knew she was home. But, after that, Mary and I realized that we cannot worry for her. It was be ineffective. But we pray every time we hear a siren that our baby girl is all right.”

* * *

Ricky hated hospitals. They stunk like antiseptic and reminded him of the last place he ever wanted to end up in his career.

Roux was the acting lieutenant and they still didn’t know how long LT Delitto would be out. Thibaut was a great guy, and Ricky respected him as a fellow firefighter, but Kate Delitto was in a category of greatness all by herself.

And then yesterday, his father phoned, trying to convince him that he wanted a family. Ricky did, just not with a lady. His family lay off on the issue since he graduated, but figured that now he had a full job, it was time for the pestering to begin again.

So that was what he was stewing about as he kept the lifeless form of his lieutenant company that afternoon. Ricky was also trying to read about burns. He was curious specifically about the level of feeling that she would have in her back.

The doctor that had come in would not directly answer his questions and only gave answers because he wasn’t family, but he was able to grasp the idea that third degree burns covered about 20% of her back, surrounded by second and first degree burns.

And like hell he wasn’t family. The crew at Station 43 were the closest thing to family he had ever had and couldn’t bear the thought to lose one of them.

* * *

Her bed was raised slightly the next time she woke. It effectively allowed her to get a better look at her room. Along to wall opposite her was what appeared to be a sink and a defibrillator monitor. Without turning her head, Kate observed a sleeping form in a chair beside her bed.

Clearing her throat once, twice, she managed to say, “Rodney?” The figure jumped then stood and moved into her focal range of vision.

He had shaved, Kate noticed, but the dark lines around his face told a much different story. His eyes were bloodshot and he dragged a hand through his hair. It just stuck up everywhere instead.

“Kate, I'm going to call a nurse,” he said, pressing something behind her head.

“What day is it?” She asked, her brain lucid enough to use the English language, and seeing no calendar in the relative vicinity.

“August 31st,” Rodney replied, pulling his chair closer to the bed, “You've been out for eleven days.”

And that explained Rodney's appearance.

“I fell two storeys in a burning building,” Kate added without thought. It just seemed like a fact apt to be shared.

“You have third degree burns covering your back and neck,” Rodney shared, but Kate figured there was something else. She had seen the crash cart across the room, she saw how scared her mother looked.

“What else?” She asked. Rodney looked away. “If you don't say it, it doesn't make it any less true.”

“You may never get to go back to the CFD. There is a high possibility of paralysis. And due to the location and severity of the of the burns, it is possible you may never walk again.”


	18. Recovery is a long road

**August/September 2014**

“Good morning Kate,” Dr. Lampard said as he entered her room one rainy morning. She had now regained full strength in her arms and upper body, however the question as to her ever walking again still remained. But Dr. Lampard smiled and put two x-rays in her lap.

“There is no spinal trauma, the spinal nerves are all fully intact.”

“So why couldn't I move my feet?” She asked. Kate now barely noticed the sterile bandages wrapped tightly around her chest and torso.

“Shock,” he said bluntly, “your body was so overwhelmed with the other injuries, that it forgot about your legs. For the past two and a half weeks and counting, your brain has been convinced that your legs simply don't exist.”

That made sense.

“So I could recover?” Kate asked.

“Most likely. Once your back heals more and your body is able return to a more normal function, your legs will too. Until then, stay strong, your body needs you,” Dr. Lampard said before grabbing the x-rays and leaving the room.

* * *

Adam was sitting beside her bed when Kate woke up later that day. The first thing she noticed was she was in a different room. Gone was the constant monitoring of nurses and doctors. Kate smiled, noticing a beacon of natural light blinding her. She had a window. More than one window! The ICU had only one window.

Adam was sitting beside her head, reading a textbook. One ear-phone was plugged into his head and the other dangled down the front of his shirt. Kate could still feel the line of where a clear oxygen mask covered her mouth and nose, providing her with oxygen rich air. A nurse wandered in and checked the monitor behind her head, but left soon after. Adam lifted his head and nodded his good morning greeting to Kate before turning his head back to whichever textbook he was reading.

Kate knew that he was there to keep her company. If she wanted to talk, he would participate, but Adam would not initiate it. A knock on the door lifted Adam’s head and he twisted in his chair.

“Morning man,” he greeted whomever entered.

“Morning Adam, Hi love,” the person said, entering her vision. Rodney then leaned over and gave Kate a kiss on the forehead.

“I’ll head off to school,” Adam said, “Oll said he’ll stop by with Sarah and the kids tonight.” And with that Adam left the room.

Rodney sat in the chair which Adam had vacated and laced his fingers with Kate’s. She could tell he was being careful in an effort not to jostle her.

Kate blinked a few times, then cleared her throat, “Do you remember...when we first met?”

“Of course. I remember thinking, ‘Why is that lady a firefighter?’ You look like a model.”

“A model in ... turnout gear, maybe,” Kate said and could feel a smile creeping across her face.”

“How do you feel?” Rodney asked, swiping his floppy blond hair away from his eyes.

“Guilty. Guilty that I... couldn't have done more.”

“You did all you could. Everyone got out alive.”

“I…,” she stopped and a tear slipped down her cheek. Rodney reached out and wiped the tear off her skin. He left his hand on her cheek and leaned in to kiss her.

“Why don’t we turn on the television?” Rodney asked and Kate tried to shrug, though she winced from the pain. She didn't want to watch the television, she wanted to be at work, with her friends, even if it meant filling out reports. Kate was done with hospitals and she wanted wanted to leave. But she couldn't barely breathe in enough air to form an entire sentence, let alone stand or walk.

Rodney did not wait for a response, and turned on the television. He flipped the channel away away from the news and ended up landing on The Amazing Race. Kate turned her head away and looked out the window. After Kate settled, Rodney gingerly leaned his upper body on the hospital bed beside her and Kate moved the arm not connected to the plethora of monitors and combed it through Rodney's hair.

 _I may never walk again_. _If I can't walk, I can't do my job. Then what? What am I without my turnout gear and helmet. I was built for this. Running in while others ran out._

 _What if the roofing panel didn't hit Kyler? Would there just be two of us in the hospital now? Did I do the right thing?_  

“I fell,” Kate whispered, still looking out the window. Rodney sat up slightly and she figured he was about to ask for clarification when she continued, “I was sliding … and Kyler grabbed my arm. He started sliding... as well and then a piece of roofing... landed on his arm. Then I was falling.”

“So you remember what happened?” Rodney asked.

“Bits and pieces. Nothing concrete,” Kate muttered and noticed someone standing just out of her vision. Rodney sat up and greeted the person. Walking back to where she could see them, Rodney guided Kyler by the shoulders to see her.

“Kate, how are you doing?” Kyler asked, looking incredibly uncomfortable. She answered with a raised eyebrow. She expected that when the painkillers wore off, her back would hurt like hell, but right now, morphine kept her pain down.

“Since you're now officially out of the ICU, I brought the crew by to see you, if you want.” Kate smiled and grunted a yes.

“Who is acting LT?” Kate wondered.

Kyler smiled, “you'll like him, I think. He's got a really bad sense of humor, can cook a really good chili and has a parrot. He's even thinking of staying with A-6 after you get back.”

“Gee, Kyler, I wonder who he is,” Kate replied sarcastically, “and you tell him... he better stay at 43 … after I'm back.”

“Even I know who it is,” Rodney added, holding a glass of water out to Kate. It was Thibaut. Kate guessed that after Kyler mentioned the parrot.

The clatter of a tray in the hallway alerted her to the arrival of A-6. Thibaut came in first, followed by Kenny and Ricky. But something was different. Ricky no longer had the white stripe on his jacket, the symbol of a probie.

“I'm a firefighter LT, I'm staying with A-6!” Ricky said, bouncing on his toes, as much as he could in steel-toe turnout boots. Kate laughed weakly, already feeling her energy draining out of her.

“That's incredible...Congrats Ricky,” Kate said, having to take a breath in the middle of her sentence. It hurt to be so weak in front of her crew.

“E-43 got a new probie. Fresh out of the Academy,” Conly said, smiling, “It’s a lady.”

“What’s her name,” Kate whispered softly, every breath an effort.

“Charlise Cetyl, also known as Charlie,” Kenny replied and Kate could feel the emotion twisting in her gut. _She did it. She made it._ Her eyes blurred and Kate raised her arm to wipe them when she saw someone walk through the door in turnout gear.

“Lieutenant Delitto?” Charlie asked as she stepped through the group of the guys.

“Charlie,” Kate said and could feel her smile cracking her dry lips.

“I asked them if I could come along to see you,” Charlie replied.

“I’m glad you came...It's nice to see you,” Kate stated.

“Aerial 6 available for dispatch?” The computerized 911 call center voice asked.

“Aerial 6 available, we are at Foothills Hospital,” Thibaut responded, though stayed in the room so Kate could hear.

 

“Respond to a multi-vehicle accident with E-43, Crowchild and 16th ave.” “Copy dispatch, we're on our way,” Thibaut reported and the crew gave her a quick salute before leaving her room. Kyler stayed and promised, “I'll bring Ania and Lilly to visit tomorrow,” before following the crew out of the hospital.

* * *

Kate had her first nightmare that night. She remembered very little, but recalled being shoved back into reality by a nurse doing his rounds. No sleep followed that night as Kate struggled to keep the terrors at bay. When Rodney arrived the next morning while on his way to work, she said nothing and feigned energy, despite the fact that she hadn't had more than four hours of sleep. It wasn't his burden to bear.

It happened again the next night. This time she remembered every detail.

_The hospital was on fire. Smelling only smoke, Kate tried to move, do anything and pulled the cords out of her wrist. She had to get other people out of here._

Moving towards the door, she collided with something and was suddenly shaken out of her nightmare. She had also just walked into Dr. Lampard, who was now supporting the majority of her weight. And he was laughing.

“You’re standing,” he said incredulously, “Lieutenant, you’re on your feet.”

* * *

She was discharged that weekend with instructions to take it easy and change the bandages covering the parts of the scar tissue on her back not entirely healed yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that ending was super cheesy, but I thought it would be a good way to tie up the chapter.


	19. Medical leave

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kate has a nightmare. Now betaed

**September 2014**

She stood in the washroom of their apartment, which they moved into a few months ago. Kate knew she was going to have to look in the mirror at some point, she just hadn't done so yet, because she had convinced Rodney these past few days to change the bandages on her back for her. Now he was at work and the dressings needed to be removed, wiped clean, then reapplied. Kate had never looked at the scarring yet, purposely. Slowly peeling back the tensor bandage, she could see the gauze over the worst parts of the scar tissue. Some of the areas already healed enough to not be bandaged anymore were still red and angry looking. Soldiering through the pain of removing the gauze from the healing skin, she closed her eyes.

Opening them when the dressing was free, she did not recognize the person staring back at her. Big nasty scars outlined the areas where the skin was too dead to be healed and big black and purple bruises covered the middle of her back. Suddenly nauseated, Kate leaned over the toilet and lost her breakfast. She took a drink of water and wiped her mouth with toilet paper. Once she felt better, Kate turned back to the mirror and told herself, _its just any other victim_.

Steeling herself once again against the pain, she took a soft wash cloth and gently wiped her back down. Patting it dry, she applied some of the anti bacterial ointment before placing the sterile gauze over the burns. Wrapping her midsection once again with the tensor bandage, she pulled her oldest A-6 shirt over her head and turned the light off in the bathroom. Making her way to the kitchen for something to eat, she hoped she was making progress.

* * *

The nightmares became more infrequent after Kate left the hospital. One night Kate saw faces.   All of them.Every life she’d failed to save.  There was screaming.The voice of a child, a mother, father, grandparent all merged into a cacophony inside her skull.An artery burst, spraying her with blood and fluid and knocking Kate back into consciousness.She sat bolt upright and felt the blood on her face. As she tried to use the blankets twisted around her to wipe her face.  She had trapped herself in the blankets and felt suddenly trapped.While fighting to get free from them, she cried out in distress.The sound was enough to wake Rodney.

“Kate?”The sudden sound startled her and she fell off the edge of the bed. Landing with a hard thump on her shoulder and back, she seized the corner of the bedsheets, pulling most of the top layer off the bed.  “Kate?” Rodney asked again, leaning over the distressed side of the bed. “What is it? What happened?”

“Blood on my face,” Kate managed to stutter out over the sheets.  Kate took a handful of sheet closer to her and tugged it gently.

“Kate, I don’t think you’re bleeding. Let me look.”  Kate let go of the sheet on her face as Rodney reached over and turned on the bedside lamp.  Kate couldn’t even bring herself to look Rodney right in the face in that moment. 

“Kate, it’s not blood,” said Rodney. “You’re sweating and crying at the same time, that’s why your face is wet.  You just had a nightmare, that’s all. That’s normal.”

“Shut up, th-there’s nothing normal about this,” Kate attempted to snap back.  Rodney got off the bed and pulled the comforter sheet off the top, sitting down on the floor next to Kate.

“How long have you been dealing with this?” Rodney asked. 

“The whole time…weeks…” she sputtered.

“Here…” Rodney draped the comforter around the battered firefighter, who now gripped it tightly around herself like a cloak. Rodney reached out his arms.  “May I…?” 

Kate’s mouth tightened. “J-just…don’t grab. Be gentle.”  Rodney put a single arm around Kate and the blanket and stroked her shoulder with his thumb.  Kate gave a couple nods of approval and even managed half a smile before she caved again. Burying her face in her knees, she huddled herself into a shaking ball and let the rest of the anguish spill out.  

She could feel Rodney adjust his arm around her and scoot over to be as close to Kate as possible, pressing a kiss to the blanket over her head before resting his own head on the weeping firefighter. It took Kate half a second to realize that the additional weight on top of her was a comforting gesture from Rodney and not debris from the fire leaning on her.  She took in the steady warmth through the blanket, actively reminding herself that she was with the best man she could possibly be with and that she wasn’t trapped.

* * *

Rodney left for work later than usual, and only after making Kate promise to phone if she needed anything. And so she wandered around their house aimlessly. After killing about three hours worth of time, Kate decided that a run would do her good. So she put on an A-6 hoodie and her running shoes and headed outside. At first the pounding of the he pavement under her shoes was a good enough distraction from her thoughts.

One kilometre turned into two and quickly into four and by the time she stopped to tie a shoelace, she was in a neighbouring community. On the way back, however, she found that no matter how hard she tried, her brain wouldn't focus on nothing and instead all she could see was herself, leaning over the hole in the floor, seeing the canisters, being blown backwards, then falling. Struggling to pull her hood over her head, frantically clawing at the material that didn’t want to budge, then darkness.

“Miss, are you okay?” Kate heard. She was walking now but didn't bother to look up to see who had asked the question.

“Miss?” A hand touched her shoulder and she spun around, ready to attack, when she registered the face of an older man. The man said nothing and just raised his hands in the traditional sign of _I'm unarmed don't hurt me_. And then she was crying and sitting on a bus stop bench.

“Are you alright?” The man asked once her breathing evened out.

Kate considered lying, but instead said, “no.”

“Is there anyone you want me to call?” He asked nicely.

She almost told him to call Rodney, but instead said, “Kyler, he’s my coworker.” He passed her his old flip phone and Kate thanked him before calling Kyler, who turned out to be on shift. After promising to come and get her, they hung up.

A-6 pulled up to the curb ten minutes later and the guys thanked the man for looking after her. Allowing her to climb into her seat, Roux shifted to his old seat in the back, ignoring her protests that it was okay. But sitting in the shotgun seat, surrounded by her crew, resting into the well worn material, it did make her feel better. They drove her home and parked the rig in front of the bungalow. Once again ignoring her protests that she was okay, they followed her inside and sat in the living room area. Ricky helped her make tea and Thibaut put a load of laundry in. Kenny and Kyler regaled her of tales of the firehall that she had missed.


	20. Yes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Get ready for this. Ladies and gents this is the moment you've waited for!

(October 22, 2014)

After eating breakfast, and having not yet had a call Kate went to her office and started going through the contents of her mailbox. She had missed a lot over the past two months. There were forms to sign, meeting notices and equipment update requests. Organizing the papers into their respective piles, putting the newest letters on the bottom, Kate got to work on a proposal. The Calgary Fire Department had not had an update in their SCBA in a few years and, though it worked, the technology was outdated. She opened up her computer and pulled up the spreadsheet she had been working on at the hospital.

At about nine o'clock, Conly, knocked on her office door. Kate pushed the wheeled chair back from her desk and motioned him in. Conly opened the door and said, "Morning Lieutenant. We won rock/paper/scissors. Its grocery time."

"Alright, get the crew. We leave in two minutes," Kate told him and watched as he walked away.

* * *

Rodney checked his pocket for what seemed to be the seventh time that hour.

 _Just making sure I have it_.

This was quite possibly the most stressful day of his life, though if everything went according to plan, it would also be the best day of his life. Concentrating on teaching French grammar was not happening today, so Rodney threw on an educational show for his grade six class. Only five minutes in and Rodney knew he should have taught something, even if it was just a review, because all the extra time left him sitting at his desk contemplating all of Kate's possible answers.

Rodney started planning last month. It took a while to get Captain Brandon on board, and then keep it hush-hush until the day of. Her co-workers needed no convincing.

At ten minutes to ten, Rodney got up and started pacing. Feeling around in his pocket, he grasped the small box and ran his thumb over the velvet lid.

At five minutes to ten, Rodney went through his evacuation checklist and put all his attendance sheets together. He watched his class, peacefully oblivious to the fact that their teacher was having a mental panic attack.

At one minute to ten, Rodney paused the movie and gave his kids a stretch break.

Ten o'clock rolled around and the shrill fire alarm went off. The ear splitting wail of the alarm caused his class to immediately plug their ears. He grabbed the evacuation binder and shouted over the cacophony, "come on, line up."

Once in a blob that had some semblance of a line, Rodney ushered his class through the halls. They periodically merged and split with other classes. His coworkers gave him smiles, thumbs up or pats on the back of encouragement. Outside, Rodney's class of 23 stood, in alphabetical order by the fence at the front of the school. The principal, whom was also in on Rodney's plan gave him a bundle of red roses.

It was a lovely fall day, Kate's favourite time of the year. He could hear sirens approach and he started shaking. _Why is proposing so difficult?_

* * *

In A-6, on the way to the SuperStore, they tried to compile a list of all the things they could need for the next 12 hours. The list was, as usual, too long and Kate made her professional vetoes. At the SuperStore, they were greeted by many young children and spilt up to get various items on the list. Kate, Roux and Tosh were assigned to retrieve the vegetables and Macken and Conly had the milk and protein list.

While picking up some carrots, the green radio clipped to Kate's red suspenders buzzed alive. "Dispatch to Aerial 6."

"Aerial 6 receiving," Kate said putting down the carrots.

"Two alarm. Devenmark Language School," the robotic voice said and Kate almost dropped the basket she was carrying. Her brain screamed for her to do something, and she did. Rounding up the crew, they ran out to the truck and pulled away with lights flashing sirens wailing.

"I'm sure Rodney's okay," Tosh said, his eyes never leaving the road in front of him. The rest of the crew in the back was quiet and Kate hopped that Tosh was right.

“Dispatch,” Kate radioed in as they got closer to the school, “did Devenmark report a 10-73?”

“10-73, negative A-6,” the tinny voice replied. According to dispatch there was no smoke showing. They crested the final hill leading to the school and Kate could see a man with a light brown jacket standing next to the well dressed lady Kate assumed was Principal Gregor. But what Kate wanted to know more was the reason that Rodney was shifting from foot to foot and not holding still.

The truck started slowing down and the doors all opened. Wade was standing beside principal Gregor and E-43 was off to the side of the road and the guys were milling around. They didn't look like they were in a hurry. Kate jumped down from the shotgun seat of A-6 and pulled her helmet on. She walked over to where he and the principal stood.

"What's the problem, Ma'am," Kate asked tried to hide her confusion.

"I believe Mr. Massey has something he would like to ask you," Dr. Gregor said, looking at Rodney. Reaching into his pocket, Rodney pulled out the velvet box. Kate couldn’t believe it.

Going down on one knee, Rodney's class walked forward and produced each a singular red rose that was given to them. "Kate, I know that the past few months have been hard. To say the least. But you weathered it. We weathered it and now you are back with your crew. And I couldn’t be prouder. Now I realize that you are the light of my life and I love you more than anything. So, Lieutenant Katherine Lauren Delitto, will you marry me?" Rodney asked, looking up at her.

Kate felt tears threaten and she pulled off her gloves and helmet and practically jumped into his arms.

"Yes, yes, yes," she whispered into his ear. Pulling back, Kate gave Rodney the best kiss ever. Rodney pulled the ring free of its velvet case and underneath lay a silver chain. Kate had to wear the ring around her neck, and he helped her put in on. "Thank you so much Rodney," she said, almost crying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, cheesy enough to put someone in a salt-induced coma. 
> 
> When I was originally writing this story, this was the chapter I wrote first. Initially, the story was going to begin in this chapter, but instead, it almost ends in this chapter


	21. You may now kiss the bride

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well friends, this is it. If you have stuck with this story this whole time, thank you so much for your patience. Once the other chapters with missing sections are fixed, I will make a note.

**January 28, 2015**

“You look great,” Charlie said, grabbing Kate by her shoulders. Kate wore a tight fitting white dress, after deciding not to wear her uniform. Her hair was loose around her shoulders and curled at the ends. The dress showed her shoulders, but had thick straps. Kate now agreed with the lady at the dress store. The scars on her back were nothing to hide; they are part of her and should be worn with pride.

Willis, Sarah, and Hannah, her bridesmaids, wore form fitting navy blue dresses, or their uniforms, respectively, while Rodney’s groomsmen, Adam, Oliver and Dylan wore navy shirts under their suits and Kyler, a groomsman as well, wore his uniform. Kate assumed the rest of the crew that she invited would be wearing their uniforms as well.

“Ready darling?” her father asked, appearing out of nowhere.

“Course,” Kate answered and tried to calm the butterflies in her stomach. Her father held out his arm and Kate looped hers in his. They approached the door of the church and stood behind the line of bridesmaids. Charlie found her spot in the line and the doors opened. The music started and the ladies in front of her started walking, with Hayley, Reese and Nolan, the flower girl and ring bearers at the start. At her arm, her father shifted and Kate could tell he was picking up something. She turned to look and saw a picture of the late John SeDyeor staring back at her. Tears sprang to her eyes and wondered how he had thought of that. She had only told one person of how much she wanted him to be at her wedding and it was Rodney.

“It was your fiance’s idea,” her father whispered and they started walking down the aisle of the church. Once they made it to the front, they stood at their respective spots and Kate wiped her eyes. In the front row of the church sat both of their families and an older lady Kate vaguely recognized. Her father handed her the framed picture of John and Kate immediately knew who she was. Rose SeDyeor. The second row was seated with all the crew from 43.

Kate could not believe how beautifully everything turned out. It was better that she imagined.  “You may now kiss the bride,” the minister said and as they kissed, Kate couldn’t have been more happy. After almost dying, it was just about the right time to finally be legally a couple.

**Author's Note:**

> Just so everyone is clear, there is only one person in this novel based on a real person. Every other character is of my own creation and any views I express do not reflect the Calgary Fire Department, Calgary Police Department or Alberta Health Services. 
> 
> At the time I wrote this story, there is no such thing as Station 43 in Calgary, the highest there is so far is 41. Same with the rigs, I tried to be as original as possible. Also, Devenmark Language School doesn't exist, so if you are in Calgary and go looking for either of those locations, you will find farmers fields where they exist in this book. 
> 
> I am not a firefighter and I am not claiming that any procedures are accurate, please take all firefighting-esk things with a grain of salt. I tried to be accurate based on the info I found on the internet.


End file.
